For other uses of the word Nootka, see Nootka (disambiguation).
The
Nootka Conventions were a series of three agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the
Kingdom of Great BritainThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
, signed in the 1790s which averted a war between the two empires over overlapping claims to portions of the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America, bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west. There are several partially overlapping definitions of the region, but they generally include the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and...
coast of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. The claims of Spain dated back nearly three hundred years to the
papal bullInter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493, which granted to Spain all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands.It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was...
of 1494 which had divided the world, and had granted to Spain the exclusive rights to settle the Pacific Coast of North America.
For other uses of the word Nootka, see Nootka (disambiguation).
The
Nootka Conventions were a series of three agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the
Kingdom of Great BritainThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
, signed in the 1790s which averted a war between the two empires over overlapping claims to portions of the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America, bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west. There are several partially overlapping definitions of the region, but they generally include the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and...
coast of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. The claims of Spain dated back nearly three hundred years to the
papal bullInter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493, which granted to Spain all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands.It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was...
of 1494 which had divided the world, and had granted to Spain the exclusive rights to settle the Pacific Coast of North America. This papal bull was not recognized by Britain (which was governed by Protestants) or by
RussiaThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(which was governed by Orthodox Christians). Britain's claims to the region were dated back to the voyage of Sir Francis Drake in 1579, and also by right of prior discovery by Captain
James CookCaptain James Cook, FRS RN , was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy...
in 1778, although a Spanish voyage had sailed as far north as the
Queen Charlotte IslandsThe Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii , and originally in Haida, Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai , are an archipelago on the British Columbia Coast, Canada...
, but not landed, in 1774.
The dispute began when Spain, in defense of its claim, seized property settled by
British subjectIn British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
John MearesJohn Meares , a native of Dublin was a navigator and explorer, best known for his role in initiating a crisis that led to the Vancouver Expedition establishing Britain's claims to the northwest coast of America....
on
Nootka IslandNootka Island is an island near Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It contains 534 km² of area. It is separated from Vancouver Island by Nootka Sound....
, leading to a confrontation between Spain and Britain known as the
Nootka CrisisThe Nootka Crisis was a 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...
which threatened to trigger a major imperial war for control of the Pacific, and, in practice, for western North America. Russia was also a party of interest, as their prior trading presence and separate claim extended much farther south of Nootka to California, and was in fact the reason Spain was attempting to solidify its claims through exploration and settlement.
The Nootka Conventions of the 1790s, carried out in part by
George VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an officer in the British Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of the North-West Coast of North America, including the shores of the modern day Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
and his Spanish counterpart
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y QuadraJuan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Sailing from the Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in what now is the Mexican state of Nayarit, from 1774 to 1788 this South American navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north...
prevented the dispute from escalating to war. The first Convention was signed on October 28, 1790. The second Nootka Convention was signed in February of 1793 and awarded compensation to John Meares for the Spanish seizure of his ships at Nootka in 1789. By the third of the three Conventions, signed on January 11, 1794, the Spanish did not give up claims, only agreed to other parties to trade at
Nootka SoundNootka Sound is a complex inlet or sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. As a strait it separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island.-History:...
, where the Spanish fortification or
presidioA Presidio was a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America during the 16th century to protect against pirates, or a base held by Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries in Italy, mostly on the Tuscan coast...
Fort San MiguelFor Angola fort, see Fortaleza de São MiguelFort San Miguel was a Spanish fortification built at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound , Vancouver Island, by Esteban José Martínez in 1789...
had been built in 1789. As of the Third Convention the Spanish fort at Nootka Sound was available for occupation by any power, be it Russia, Britain, or anyone else, including Spain should it desire to return.
The fledgling United States had no claim in this area at the time. Spanish rights in the area were later acquired by the United States in the
Adams-Onís TreatyThe Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, settled a border dispute in North America between the United States and Spain. The treaty was the result of increasing tensions between the U.S. and Spain regarding territorial rights at a time of weakened Spanish...
signed in 1819. The United States argued that it acquired from Spanish rights to exclusive ownership; this position led to a dispute with Britain known as the
Oregon boundary disputeThe Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...
. This dispute was not in fact resolved between the United States and the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
until the signing of the
Oregon TreatyThe Oregon Treaty, is a treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which...
in 1846, dividing the disputed territory, and establishing what later became the current international boundary between
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States.
Although the Nootka Conventions theoretically opened the Pacific Northwest coast from Oregon to Alaska to British colonization, the advent of the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
distracted any efforts towards this (as recommended by Vancouver at the time) and the proposed settlement colony in the region was to be abandoned. The
Hudson's Bay CompanyThe Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world...
, the remaining British presence in the region, was averse to settlement and any economic activity other than its own, such that settlement and resource development did not take place to any degree until the
Fraser Canyon Gold RushThe Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River, a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...
of 1858, which formalized British claims on the mainland still residual from the Nootka Conventions into the
Colony of British ColumbiaThe Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1871. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still...
.