The California Gold Rush began on 1848 when gold was discovered in California. By the beginning of 1849, word of the Gold Rush had spread around the world, and an overwhelming number of gold-seekers and merchants began to arrive from virtually every continent resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California.
The largest group of forty-niners (as referenced in 1849) were Americans, arriving by the tens of thousands overland across the continent and along various sailing routes. Many came by way of the Isthmus of Panama, the easiest way in that time to reach California from the east. While passing through, they often bought straw hats on their way and spread the word about these fabulous Panama Hats in their destinations within California.
Gold seekers never knew that what they thought it was a Panama Hat was really a straw hat that was sold in Panama but that it was originally made in Ecuador. As a matter of fact, these straw hat should have been named Montecristi Hat because it is hand made by master weavers of a small town of Montecristi, in Ecuador.
Anyway, the Panama Hat gained popularity in California and in 1849, Ecuador exported 220,000 hats to California that protected gold seekers from the strong sun since in that time the gold was retrieved from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning.
The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a small settlement to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. On the other hand, the greatest of all straw hats gained popularity within the USA as the Panama Hat. Still today, Panama Hats are more popular in California than any other state of the USA and most of the celebrities that wear them are Hollywood stars.
The largest group of forty-niners (as referenced in 1849) were Americans, arriving by the tens of thousands overland across the continent and along various sailing routes. Many came by way of the Isthmus of Panama, the easiest way in that time to reach California from the east. While passing through, they often bought straw hats on their way and spread the word about these fabulous Panama Hats in their destinations within California.Gold seekers never knew that what they thought it was a Panama Hat was really a straw hat that was sold in Panama but that it was originally made in Ecuador. As a matter of fact, these straw hat should have been named Montecristi Hat because it is hand made by master weavers of a small town of Montecristi, in Ecuador.
Anyway, the Panama Hat gained popularity in California and in 1849, Ecuador exported 220,000 hats to California that protected gold seekers from the strong sun since in that time the gold was retrieved from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning.The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a small settlement to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. On the other hand, the greatest of all straw hats gained popularity within the USA as the Panama Hat. Still today, Panama Hats are more popular in California than any other state of the USA and most of the celebrities that wear them are Hollywood stars.
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