Nootka Crisis

The Nootka Crisis was an international incident and political dispute between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain, triggered by a series of events that took place during the summer of 1789 at Nootka Sound. Nootka Sound is a network of inlets on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, now part of the Canadian province of British Columbia and the territory of the Mowachaht group of the Nuu-chah-nulth indigenous people.

The crisis revolved around larger issues about sovereignty claims and rights of navigation and trade. Between 1774 and 1789 Spain sent several expeditions to the Pacific Northwest to reassert its long-held navigation and territorial claims to the area. By 1776 these expeditions had reached Bucareli Bay in the mouth of the Columbia River in Sitka Sound. Territorial rights were asserted according to acts of sovereignty customary of the time. However, some years later several British fur trading vessels entered the area which Spain had laid claim to. A complex series of events led to these British vessels being seized by the Spanish Navy at Nootka Sound. When the news reached Europe, Britain requested compensation and the Spanish government refused. Both sides prepared for war and sought assistance from allies. The crisis was resolved peacefully but with difficulty through a set of three agreements, known collectively as the Nootka Conventions. Spain agreed to share some rights to settle along the Pacific coast but kept its main Pacific claims. The outcome was considered a victory for mercantile interests of Britain and opened the way to certain British expansion in the Pacific. However, Spain continued to colonize and settle the Pacific coast, especially present-day California, until 1821.

The events at Nootka Sound, apart from the larger international crisis, are sometimes called the Nootka Incident, the Nootka Sound Incident, and similar terms. The larger Nootka Crisis is known variously by names such as the Nootka Sound Crisis, the Nootka Sound Controversy, the Great Spanish Armament, and other variations.