For over a century, the Pacific Ocean was in affect a Spanish ocean. Though in the early 1600s it was also crossed by English privateers, Dutch explorers, and even a Japanese ship sailing to Mexico, by the middle of the century the Spanish had effectively sealed it off via fleets of warships stationed at the Philippines and the Straits of Magellan. The only ships which sailed across it were Spanish trading vessels, bringing silver and gold from Mexico and Peru to buy spices and other exotic Asian trade goods. Not interested in anything but profit, they left most of the western coast of what is today the United States and Canada unexplored, only venturing that far north when blown off course on their return journey. However, as the power of Spain began to wane, so too did their grip on the Pacific. By the mid-1700s, both the British and French were actively exploring the South Pacific. However, the northern half of the ocean was left alone. A nine-to-twelve-month voyage from Europe with no safe ports in between, it was of little interest to the two great maritime powers of the time.
Exploration of the Northern Pacific was first begun by the Russians, who by the middle of the century began regularly trading for furs, primarily sea otter pelts, with the natives of Alaska, establishing their first permanent settlement in 1774. This shifted their relationship with the natives from trading partnership to straight up extortion and enslavement, but no matter how badly the Russians acted there were always others willing to start trading, European goods being rather new and novel in the region at the time. This turn of events rather alarmed the Spanish, not because they gave two shits about the natives, but rather because they didn’t want the Russians all up on their turf, and as a result they took a sudden interest in the big blank spot on the map. As a result, they sent multiple expeditions by sea to map the coast as far north as Alaska and by land into what is today California. They also founded numerous missions in California, the furthest north being San Francisco.
Unfortunately for the Spanish, the Russians weren’t the only ones taking an interest in the big blank spot on the map. Fueled by scientific interest and a want to stick a finger in the eye of the Spanish, the British launched a series of expeditions to explore the entirety of the Pacific Ocean soon after. Led by James Cook, these expeditions not only mapped a good chunk of the South Pacific and eastern coast of Australia, they also ventured as far north as Alaska and the Bering Strait. Australia was a big find, given that after the American Revolution it proved to be the perfect spot for the British to send their convicts given their former colonies weren’t really down with such having them sent across the Atlantic anymore. However, most importantly, Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, the northernmost Polynesian settlements who were more than down to welcome whomever wanted to land and trade, making them a perfect safe haven for any nation wanting to sail the wide-open waters of the region. The British expedition was followed by a French expedition, and as they say, the rest is history.
By the middle of the 1780s, voyages of exploration had given way to more merchant minded endeavors. Ships from Britain, Spain, Russia, and even the newly created United States began to regularly trade with the natives along the coast of the Pacific Northwest, trading European goods for sea otter pelts which they than took to China to sell for Asian goods which they then took back home. Not long after, sailing into the Pacific to hunt whales also became quite profitable. Most definitely not happy at this point, the Spanish decided to take the initiative. Building a settlement on what is today Vancouver Island in 1789, they began forcefully seizing the ships of other nations which entered the area. This sparked an international incident, with Britian threatening to declare war if such shit didn’t stop post haste. Unfortunately, lacking the might to take on the British navy alone the Spanish needed allies, but the Dutch sided with the British and the French were too bankrupt and on the edge of revolution to care. So in the end the Spanish dismantled their settlement and signed an agreement recognizing Britain had an equal claim to the region.
Britian followed up their diplomatic victory by sending an expedition by sea to better map the coast of the Pacific Northwest while the British owned North West Company, a relatively newly created Canadian fur trading venture, sent an overland expedition which became the first to cross the North American continent north of Mexico in 1793. However, the British were unable to capitalize on these successes. The French Revolution and the establishment of the French Republic had thrown Europe into chaos, and the aristocracy of Europe was eager to snuff out this new bastion of democracy as quickly as possible. The far corner of the world would have to wait.
