In 1848, US President James K. Polk sparks the 1849 Gold Rush by certifying a gold find in California.
People had previously made false claims that they had discovered gold, thus the Gold Rush did not begin until December 1848, when President James Polk backed up the discovery. The prospect of getting wealthy by collecting gold nuggets from the ground was akin to trying to win the lottery! Prospectors arrived from all over the world to try their luck in 1849. A few people made a tiny fortune. Others returned home destitute. Many instead made a livelihood by operating stores, saloons, laundries, and boarding houses, resulting in the formation of towns and communities that still exist in California.
Related On This Day
Apollo 17, the final manned lunar landing mission, launched in 1972, with the crew taking the iconic "blue marble" shot of the whole Earth.
Jayaram Jayalalitha, an Indian actress and politician who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1996 to 2016, died of a heart attack at the age of 68.
In 2017, astronomers reported the finding of a "supermassive" black hole 13 billion light-years away, 800 times larger than the Sun, in the journal "Nature."
Stan Lee (24), inventor of "Spider-Man," marries in 1947. Boocock, Joan Clayton
Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid campaigner, political prisoner, and South African President, died of a lung illness in 2013 at the age of 95.
Shekhar Kapur, an Indian filmmaker (Bandit Queen), was born in Laghore, British India, in 1945.
In 1992, 300,000 people demolished the Babri Mosque in India in order to uncover an ages-old temple devoted to Lord Ram; four people were killed in the process.
Larry Bird, American Basketball Hall of Fame forward, coach, and executive, was born in West Baden, Indiana in 1956.
Shri Aurobindo, an Indian guru and patriot, dies at the age of 78 in 1950.
Brian Lara of the West Indies made his Test debut on December 6, 1990
B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian politician, lawyer, and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement, dies of diabetes at the age of 65 in 1956.
Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah, an Indian cricketer who was born on 6 December 1993
Kumar Shahani, an Indian writer and filmmaker, was born in Larkana, Sindh, in 1940.
On Gibraltar in 1962, actor Sean Connery marries actress Diane Cilento.
Hara Prasad Shastri, an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist, and Bengali literature historian, was born in Khulna, Bengal, in 1853.
Walter Elias Disney, American animator, producer, and co-founder of Walt Disney Company, was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1901.
On December 7, 2017, Ronaldo won the fifth and last Ballon d'Or award.
Sikkim become an Indian protectorate in 1950.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj, an Indian Hindu spiritual guru (BAPS), was born in Chansad, Gujarat, in 1921.