Q: What makes a gold rush different to other periods of ongoing gold mining activity?
A: The allure of gold has driven people to mine, refine and smelt it to create artefacts, jewellery and exchangeable objects for centuries. But what makes a gold rush different to other, more general periods of gold mining is really to do with the scale - the speed and pace - of the mining that takes place. The gold rushes of the 19th century stand out for that reason, and they were also notable for triggering huge transfers of population, which in turn resulted in the large-scale transfer of goods, capital, property and ideas.
The 19th-century gold rushes were also gold rushes because people thought of and experienced them as such. At the height of the California gold rush, for Instance, the New York Herald described the public mind as having been set on the “highway to insanity”. People became obsessed with the search for gold, so I think that makes the 19th-century gold rushes quite different from earlier periods of gold mining.
Q: What were the most significant gold rushes of the
