Global San Francisco and the Irish of the New Pacific

Abstract

Abstract Following the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in January 1848, San Francisco established itself as the premier city of the western Americas. From the outset, its substantial Irish immigrant population enjoyed the standing of a charter group and exhibited high levels of political power and cultural influence, characteristics that were frequently noted by contemporaries and continued well into the twentieth century. While San Francisco's Irish population shared much in common with their compatriots in other American cities, the Golden City developed its own unique identity and quickly emerged as a truly global Irish city. Key features that account for its experience include the city's distinctive nineteenth-century population composition, which included a large Chinese component; the notable confidence of its Irish-born population compared with that in other American urban centers; and the unique westward orientation of the city and its people that contributed to San Francisco's pivotal role in emerging transnational Pacific networks.