Nootka Crisis - Background

Background

Northwestern North America (the Pacific Northwest) was little explored by European ships before the mid-18th century. But by the end of the century several nations were vying for control of the region, including Britain, Spain, Russia, and the United States.

For centuries Spain had claimed the entire Pacific coast of North and South America. This claim was based on a number of events. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI had issued the Inter caetera papal bull, dividing the western hemisphere into Spanish and Portuguese zones, in theory granting nearly the entire New World to Spain. This was further defined in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. In 1513 Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and formally laid claim to all the shores washed by the Pacific Ocean. As the years went by new criteria for determining sovereignty evolved in European international law, including "prior discovery" and "effective occupation". Spain made claims of prior discovery for the northwest coast of North America by citing the voyages of Cabrillo in 1542, Ferrelo in 1543, and Vizcaino in 1602–03. Before the early 17th century, these voyages had not reached north of the 44th parallel, and Spain had no "effective settlement" north of Mexico. Thus when, in the mid-18th century, the Russians began to explore Alaska and establish fur trading posts, Spain responded by building a new naval base at San Blas, Mexico, and using it as a base for sending a series of exploration and reconnaissance voyages to the far northwest. These voyages, intended to ascertain the Russian threat and to establish "prior discovery" claims, were supplemented by the "effective settlement" of Alta California. Starting in 1774, Spanish expeditions were sent to northern Canada and Alaska to reassert Spain's claims and navigation rights in the area. By 1775 Spanish exploration had reached Bucareli Bay including the mouth of the Columbia River between present-day Oregon and Washington, and Sitka Sound.

James Cook of the British Royal Navy explored the Pacific Northwest coast, including Nootka Sound, in 1778. His journals were published in 1784 and aroused great interest in the fur trading potential of the region. Even before 1784 unauthorized accounts had already familiarized British merchants with the possible profits to be made. The first British trader to arrive on the northwest coast after Cook was James Hanna, in 1785. News of the large profit Hanna made selling northwest furs in China inspired many other British ventures.

Cook's visit to Nootka Sound would later be used by the British in their claim to the region, even though Cook made no effort to formally claim possession. Spain countered by citing Juan Pérez, who anchored in Nootka Sound in 1774.

By the late 1780s Nootka Sound was the most important anchorage on the northwestern coast. Russia, Britain, and Spain all made moves to occupy it for good.

John Meares was one of the movers behind the early British fur trading effort in the Pacific Northwest. After an ill-fated voyage to Alaska in 1786–87, Meares returned to the northwest in 1788. He arrived at Nootka Sound in command of the Felice Adventurero, along with the Iphigenia Nubiana under William Douglas. The ships were registered in Macau, a Portuguese colony in China, and used Portuguese flags in order to evade the British East India Company monopoly on trading in the Pacific. Non-British ships were not required to have licences from the East India Company.

Meares later claimed that Maquinna, a chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people, sold him some land on the shore of Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound, in exchange for some pistols and trade goods, and that on this land some kind of building was erected. These claims would become a key point in Britain's position during the Nootka Crisis. Spain strongly disputed both claims, and the true facts of the matter have never been fully established. The land and building aside, there is no doubt that Meares's men, and a group of Chinese workers they brought, built the sloop North West America. It was launched in September 1788, the first non-indigenous vessel built in the Pacific Northwest. The North West America would also play a role in the Nootka Crisis, being one of the vessels seized by Spain.

At the end of the summer Meares and the three ships left.

During the winter of 1788–89 Meares was in Guangzhou (Canton), China, where he and others including John Henry Cox and Daniel Beale formed a partnership called the Associated Merchants Trading to the Northwest Coast of America. Plans were made for more ships to sail to the Pacific Northwest in 1789, including the Princess Royal, under Thomas Hudson, and the Argonaut under James Colnett. The consolidation of the fur trading companies of Meares and the Etches (King George's Sound Company) resulted in James Colnett being given the overall command. Colnett's orders in 1789 were to establish a permanent fur trading post at Nootka Sound based on the foothold accomplished by Meares.

While the British fur traders were getting organized, the Spanish were continuing their effort to secure the Pacific Northwest. At first the Spanish were responding mainly to Russian activity in Alaska. On a 1788 voyage to Alaska, Esteban José Martínez had learned that the Russians were intending to establish a fortified outpost at Nootka Sound. This, in addition to the increasing use of Nootka Sound by British fur traders, resulted in the Spanish decision to assert sovereignty on the northwest coast once and for all. Plans were laid for Nootka Sound to be colonized. Spain hoped to establish and maintain sovereignty on the entire coast as far north as the Russia posts in Prince William Sound.

The Viceroy of New Spain, Manuel Antonio Flores, instructed Martínez to occupy Nootka Sound, build a settlement and fort, and to make it clear that Spain was setting up a formal establishment.

In early 1789 the Spanish expedition under Martínez arrived at Nootka Sound. The force consisted of the warship Princesa, commanded by Martínez, and the supply ship San Carlos, under Gonzalo López de Haro. The expedition built British Columbia's first settlement Santa Cruz de Nuca on Nootka Sound, including houses, a hospital, and Fort San Miguel.