Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest
During the Age of Discovery, the Spanish Empire undertook several expeditions to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Spanish claims to the region date to the papal bull of 1493, and the Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494. In 1513, this claim was reinforced by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, when he claimed all lands adjoining this ocean for the Spanish Crown. Spain only started to colonize the claimed territory north of present-day Mexico in the 18th century, when it settled the northern coast of Las Californias.
Starting in the mid-18th century, Spain's claims in the Pacific Northwest began to be contested by the British and Russians, who established fur trading posts and other settlements in the region. King Charles III of Spain and his successors sent several expeditions from New Spain to present-day Canada and Alaska between 1774 and 1793 to strengthen the Spanish claims. These efforts would eventually come to naught when Spanish claims in the region were ceded to the American government in the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty.
1774 voyage of Pérez
The first voyage was that of Juan José Pérez Hernández of the frigate Santiago (alias Nueva Galicia[1][2]). Although intending to reach Alaska, the expedition turned back at Haida Gwaii. Pérez and his crew of 86 were the first known Europeans to visit the Pacific Northwest.
1775 voyage of Heceta and Bodega y Quadra
In 1775 a second voyage of ninety men led by Lieutenant
The three vessels sailed together as far as
Bodega y Quadra, in the Sonora, moved up the coast according to the expedition's orders, ultimately reaching the
During Bodega y Quadra's voyage numerous "acts of sovereignty" were performed. Many places were named by the Spanish, including Puerto de Bucareli (Bucareli Bay), Puerto de Los Remedios, and Mount San Jacinto, which was renamed Mount Edgecumbe by British explorer James Cook three years later.[4]
1779 voyage of Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra
A third voyage took place in 1779 under the command of
During the voyage, Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra carefully surveyed Bucareli Bay, then headed north to Port Etches on Hinchinbrook Island. They entered Prince William Sound and reached a latitude of 61°, the most northern point obtained by the Spanish explorations of Alaska. They also explored Cook Inlet, and the Kenai Peninsula, where a possession ceremony was performed on August 2, in what today is called Port Chatham. Due to various sicknesses among the crew, Arteaga returned to California without finding the Russians.[4]
Throughout the voyage, the crews of both vessels endured many hardships, including food shortages and scurvy. On September 8, the ships rejoined and headed south for the return trip to San Blas. Although the Spanish were normally secretive about their exploring voyages and the discoveries made, the 1779 voyage of Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra became widely known. Lapérouse obtained a copy of their map published in 1798. Mourelle's journal was acquired and published in London in 1798 by Daines Barrington.
After these three exploration voyages to Alaska within five years, there were no further Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest until 1788, after the Treaty of Paris ended the war between Spain and Britain. During the war, Spain dedicated the port of San Blas to the war effort in the Philippines. Voyages of exploration were suspended. Support of Alta California, which depended upon San Blas, was minimal. By 1786 Alta California had become nearly self-supporting and peace with Britain was restored, making further voyages to Alaska possible.[6]
1788 voyage of Martínez and Haro
In March 1788, two ships were sent north from San Blas to investigate Russian activity. Esteban José Martínez, on the Princesa, was in command of the expedition, accompanied by the San Carlos under Gonzalo López de Haro, with José María Narváez serving as Haro's pilot. The ships arrived at Prince William Sound in May. Following evidence of Russian fur trading activity, the ships sailed west. In June Haro reached Kodiak Island and learned from the natives that a Russian post was nearby.[7]
On June 30, 1788, Haro sent Narváez in a longboat to look for the Russian post at
After this meeting Haro sailed east and joined Martínez at Sitkinak Island. Using the information acquired from Delarov, the expedition sailed to Unalaska Island, where there was a large Russian post, also called Unalaska, under the command of Potap Kuzmich Zaikov. Martínez arrived on July 29, Haro on August 4. Zaikov gave Martínez three maps covering the Aleutian Islands. He also confirmed that the Russians planned to take possession of Nootka Sound the next year.[7] Zaikov explained that two Russian frigates were already on their way and a third was to sail to Nootka Sound. He was referring to the 1789 expedition of Joseph Billings, but greatly exaggerating its mission.[8][9] The visit to Unalaska marks the westernmost point reached during the Spanish voyages of exploration in Alaska.
The Spanish expedition left Unalaska on August 18, 1788, heading south for California and Mexico. Due to increasing conflict between Martínez and Haro, the ships broke off contact within three days sailed south separately. Martínez had allowed this but ordered Haro to rejoin him at Monterey, California. But during the voyage south Haro, with support from Narváez and the other pilots, declared his ship no longer under Martínez's command. They sailed back to San Blas on their own, arriving on October 22, 1788. Martínez spent a month in Monterey waiting for Haro. He arrived at San Blas in December, where he found himself faced with charges of irresponsible leadership. He soon regained favor and was placed in charge of a new expedition to occupy Nootka Sound before the Russians did.[7] This expedition took place in 1789, culminating in the Nootka Crisis.
1789 settlement in Nootka Sound
Following up on the 1788 voyage to Alaska, Martínez and Haro were ordered to preemptively take possession of
1790 Spanish base in Nootka Sound
The Nootka Crisis became a major international incident nearly leading to war between Spain and Britain. As the process unfolded, the Viceroy of New Spain decided it was important to establish a permanent base at Nootka Sound. Three ships sailed to Nootka Sound, with
1790 voyage of Fidalgo
In 1790, Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo took the San Carlos to Alaska, visiting and naming Cordova Bay and Port Valdez in Prince William Sound. Acts of sovereignty were performed at both places. Fidalgo entered Cook Inlet and found the Russian post-Pavlovskaia, the Pavel Lebedev-Lastochkin Company post at the mouth of the Kenai River. Fidalgo did not stop at the post but continued west to Kodiak Island, where he noted Shelikov's post.[10] Fidalgo then went to the Russian settlement at Alexandrovsk (today's English Bay or Nanwalek, Alaska), southwest of today's Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula, where again, Fidalgo asserted the Spanish claim to the area by conducting a formal ceremony of sovereignty.[11]
1790 voyage of Quimper
In 1790 Manuel Quimper, with officers López de Haro and Juan Carrasco, sailed the Princesa Real into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, following up on a voyage of Narváez the previous year. Quimper sailed to the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovering the San Juan Islands and many straits and inlets. Having limited time he had to return to Nootka without fully exploring the promising straits and inlets. Contrary winds made it impossible to sail the small vessel to Nootka, so Quimper went south to San Blas instead.
1791 voyage of Eliza
In 1791
1789-1794 voyage of Malaspina and Bustamante
The King of Spain gave
1792 voyage of Galiano and Valdés
In 1792 Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, on the Sutil, and Cayetano Valdés y Flores, on the Mexicana, sailed from San Blas to Nootka Sound, then circumnavigated Vancouver Island. An account of the voyage of Galiano and Valdés, in contrast, was published in Spain and widely promoted, overshadowing the more significant voyage of Malaspina, who had become a political prisoner shortly after returning to Spain.
1792 voyage of Caamaño
Jacinto Caamaño, commander of the frigate Aránzazu, sailed to Bucareli Bay in 1792. Juan Pantoja y Arriaga served as his pilot. Caamaño conducted a detailed survey of the coast south to Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. By 1792 much of the coast had already been visited by European explorers, but some areas had been overlooked, such as the southern part of Prince of Wales Island. A number of Caamaño's place names in the area have survived, such as Cordova Bay, Revillagigedo Channel, Bocas de Quadra, and in what is now called Caamaño Passage, Zayas Island (named for his second pilot, Juan Zayas).[12][13]
No report on Caamaño's voyage was published until long after and his discoveries remained obscure, although George Vancouver apparently met Caamaño and obtained copies of his maps, especially of areas north of Dixon Entrance. Vancouver later incorporated some of Caamaño's place names into his atlas.
1793 voyage of Eliza and Martínez y Zayas
In 1793, Francisco de Eliza and Juan Martínez y Zayas surveyed the coast between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the San Francisco Bay. They also explored the mouth of the Columbia River.[14]
Legacy
After these numerous expeditions, Spain claimed the areas they explored as part of
The only Spanish official expedition to Nootka Sound after the conventions with Britain and before the treaty with the United States took place in 1796, when one of the ships from San Blas, the Sutil, made a stopover at the inlet. There they found Scottish activist Thomas Muir, then an escapee from Botany Bay prison, on board the American fur trading vessel Otter, and carried him to Monterey.[15][16]
In 1957, the Spanish government presented stained glass windows commemorating the Nootka conventions to the church of
Today, Spain's legacy in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest endures as several place names, such as Ballenas Islands, Quadra Island, Fidalgo Island, Spanish Banks, Malaspina Glacier, Cordova Bay, Padilla Bay, Bucareli Bay, Sutil Channel, Cordero Channel, Laredo Sound, Haro Strait, Hernando island, Sonora Island, Cortes Island, Gravina Island, and Revillagigedo Island, or the towns of Zeballos, Port Angeles, Valdez, and Cordova.[18]
See also
References
- ^ )
- ISBN 978-970-32-3474-5.
- ISBN 0-88894-056-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7748-1367-9.
- ISBN 0-8032-9418-2.
- ^ ISBN 0-87062-265-X.
- ISBN 978-0-295-98249-6.
- ^ Billings, Joseph, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- ISBN 978-0-295-98249-6.
- ^ History of Spanish exploration of Pacific Northwest and Alaska
- ^ "Spanish Place Names on the Face of Alaska". ExploreNorth. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
- ^ "Spanish explorers". Archived from the original on February 9, 2010.
- ^ Tovell, 2008, p. 154
- ^ Bartroli, Tomás (1968). "Presencia Hispánica en la Costa Oeste de Norteamérica (S XVIII)" (PDF). Centro Virtual Cervantes (in Spanish). III: 105–115.
- ISBN 9780207952548.
- ^ "Lieutenant Governor visits Yuquot with surprise artifact | Ha-Shilth-Sa Newspaper". hashilthsa.com. 2015-05-02. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
- ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
External links
Archives
- Arteaga Voyage records. 1779. 1 document. At the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.