Over the course of Pacific Northwest history, there have been various cultural expectations that have influenced the encounters between the many groups of peoples living in the Pacific Northwest. The Native Americans, Europeans, Mexican born Spanish, and American people have encountered cultural differences amongst each other for several centuries. First, curiosity was the driving force behind exploration. The New World still had an undiscovered area in the Northwest, the last frontier. The curious minds of expanding nations would send them on several endeavors to stake claim to this unknown portion of the world. According to Weber, the Spanish were the first to reach the Pacific Northwest, preceding all other European powers in exploring the coastlines of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (Terra Northwest, 3). In 1493, through Papal donation, Spain staked claim to the west coast for the sole navigation rights to the Eastern Pacific. As Schwantes described, Spain was the preeminent power in the Pacific basin for nearly three centuries after 1493, but concentrated its attention on the Pacific coast south from Mexico and on equatorial trade routes linking its American empire and the Philippines (Schwantes, 42). Exploratory voyages were deployed on occasion over the next three hundred years. During this time Juan de Fuca discovered the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1592 and later Juan Perez would explore and claim the Pacific Northwest for Spain in 1774—where the Nootka Sound would later become a place of international conflict. The Spanish, a lot of them Mexican-born, were the first non-Indian settlers to the region—with short lived posts in the coastal areas of British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. Initially, Spain believed there was a lack of valuable mineral resources in the area and therefore did not attempt to penetrate the interior regions of the Pacific Northwest. Schwantes explained that it wasn’t until Russian exploration in the mid-1700’s that aroused Spain from her imperial lethargy (Schwantes, 42).
Second, commerce created voracity, a cultural expectation that was shared by the various nations. Minimal Spanish efforts in the Pacific Northwest allowed other countries to explore the New World in search of the Northwest Passage—the elusive shortcut to the profitable trade markets in Asia. Professor Hirt points out in his lecture that the 1700’s in particular were a vibrant and turbulent time with a great deal of international trade, competition, and conflict among expanding European nations (Lecture 3). As explorers were in search of a passage across North America, they soon learned about the lucrative fur trade and the high prices being paid in China for sea otter pelts. This would send the competing nations into a race to establish claims in the Northwest, eventually leading to overlapping and conflicting claims. Third, conquest led to conflict. The Nootka Sound was a great example of how cultural expectations influenced history in the Pacific Northwest—Russians, Spanish, British, and American traders all wanting to profit from the vast riches of the fur trade. Although the Russians knew about previous Spanish land claims in the New World, they were not going to let those claims go unchallenged. In the 1740’s, Russians began exploring the Northwest, sending fur traders down from Siberia and establishing settlements in what is now present-day Alaska. When the Spanish became aware of the Russian movement, they sent Juan Perez north to take official possession of their declared land. For the Spanish, taking possession of the land entailed going ashore, planting a cross with an appropriate inscription, reciting a religious litany, and burying a bottle at the foot of the cross containing written documentation of Spain’s claim (Schwantes, 48). Unfortunately, foul weather prevented Perez from going onshore and properly claiming land along the Northwest coast. This would later lead to confusion and uncertain claims in the region. As Schwantes clarified, while the Russians pushed south and Spaniards north, the British under James Cook wedged themselves in between the two expanding empires at Nootka, creating the potential for a major international clash (Schwantes, 46).
Weber specifies the troubles at Nootka originated with the 1778 visit of the celebrated Captain James Cook, whose landing at Nootka on his third and final voyage of Pacific discovery was deliberate rather than coincidental (Terra Northwest, 12). Apparently, Cook knew beforehand that Juan Perez had encountered friendly Indians at Nootka in 1774. He was instructed to make a careful record of the natural resources of the region and to take possession of unclaimed lands for the king of England—unclaimed, that is, by nations such as Russia and Spain, because the presence of the native peoples was of little consequence in European eyes (Schwantes, 22). Europeans were arrogant in believing that the natives would just succumb to their claims and not cause any threat.
While Perez never made it to land, he did encounter Native Americans while anchored in the Nootka Sound. The Natives cautiously approached the ship and initiated what possibly could have been the first trade with non-natives in Pacific Northwest history. The Indians traded skins and pelts to the Spaniards for shells, knives, metals, and clothing. Weber explained what Cook found during his voyage was more than just friendly Indians, he learned about the “soft gold” and the fortunes to be made from the sea otter pelts. Cook’s account brought merchant vessels from several nations scrambling to the otter-rich coastal water off present-day Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (Terra Northwest, 12). Although Cook’s third voyage would end Europe’s erratic contact with the Northwest, the influx of new fur traders and settlers would lead to a new era, one that would change Indian culture forever.
Adding to the controversy; although Juan Perez had anchored off Nootka’s entrance, the secretive Spanish published no account of his activities. In the late 1700’s, Spain adopted a new practice of establishing sovereignty through a limited act of possession, mapping the claim, and publishing the results of any new discoveries (Schwantes, 48). Cook, during his time there, made no effort to take formal possession of the area because he heard vague reports of Spanish visitors and assumed that they had already claimed it for themselves. The conflicting imperial claims finally lead to an international incident in 1789 known as the Nootka Sound controversy. In that year the Russians were a well-established presence in the North Pacific; Spain laid claim to Nootka and the entire western coast of North America; Great Britain challenged that notion; and the United States, seeking new markets to replace those lost by separation from Great Britain, showed increased interest in the Pacific fur trade (Schwantes, 47).
To prevent a war over Nootka, England and Spain signed an agreement in 1790 that limited Spain’s territories to discoveries secured by treaties and age-old possession and compensated the English for the damages done to them at Nootka. Spain would remain a presence at Nootka for five more years, due to the limits of their claims not being set. Schwantes explained the beginning of Spanish decline from Nootka stemmed from distractions in Europe and their inability to discredit the territorial claims of their rivals, eventually conceding Nootka to the English. The Spanish descent was accelerated over the next two decades as they lost interest in the Pacific Northwest, where the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 relinquished all Spanish claims to the region north of the 42nd parallel—to the United States. Later, in 1824 and 1825, the Russians made agreements with the United States and Britain, extinguishing Russian claims to the present day lands of Alaska—leaving the Americans and Britons in joint possession of the Oregon country (Schwantes, 49).
Schwantes identified that some of the most profound changes in Pacific Northwest history occurred during the 1840’s. When the decade dawned, the Oregon country had no political boundaries and no effective government apart from the influence of Hudson’s Bay Company officials and the American missionaries (Schwantes, 110). A decade later, an international border was created, separating American and British territories at the 49th parallel. Changes to the newly established region were due to the growing number of land seeking settlers, supplanted fur traders, and missionaries who laid out farms, towns, and roads. The settlers eventually organized a government for themselves in 1843 and five years later Congress would create the Oregon territory. Finally, the greatest change to the cultural landscape in the territory would come from the Whitman tragedy of 1847, which led to three decades of periodic warfare between Indians and whites—contributing to the rearranging of the region’s political landscape.
In conclusion, the historical encounters between the various groups of peoples exploring and living in the Pacific Northwest were greatly influenced by cultural expectations. Although the outcomes for each group may have been different, they were all motivated by the three C’s of empire: curiosity, commerce, and conquest.