historical maps
18th century views of my 21st century world
Wikipedia:
After the summer surveying season ended in
August, Vancouver went to Nootka on
Vancouver Island, then the region's most
important harbour, where he was to get any
British buildings or lands returned by the
Spanish. The Spanish commander, Bodega y
Quadra, was very cordial and he and
Vancouver exchanged the maps they had
made, but no agreement was reached; they
decided to await further instructions. At this
time, they decided to name the large island on
which Nootka was now proven to be located as
Quadra and Vancouver Island. Years later, as
Spanish influence declined, the name was
shortened simply to Vancouver Island.
After the summer surveying season ended in
August, Vancouver went to Nootka on
Vancouver Island, then the region's most
important harbour, where he was to get any
British buildings or lands returned by the
Spanish. The Spanish commander, Bodega y
Quadra, was very cordial and he and
Vancouver exchanged the maps they had
made, but no agreement was reached; they
decided to await further instructions. At this
time, they decided to name the large island on
which Nootka was now proven to be located as
Quadra and Vancouver Island. Years later, as
Spanish influence declined, the name was
shortened simply to Vancouver Island.
The George Vancouver map of 1798
Vancouver sailed south and visited the Spanish at their capital of Monterey. He obviously exchanged information with the Spanish,
since the map shows the entire string of Spanish missions, founded in the previous 50 years to secure upper California for Spain.
The map nevertheless does not show the full extent of the San Francisco Bay, suggesting that Vancouver did not sail into it, and that
the Spanish preferred to keep it secret. He does however show the supposed port of Sir Francis Drake, who visited the coast in the
late 16th century (calling the Northwest Coast "New Albion"), which created Britain's main historic claim to the region.
Further south the harbour of San Diego is well defined, as is San Pedro Bay, the current port of Los Angeles. After visiting California
he spent the winter in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), being the third European to visit after Cook and La Pérouse.
since the map shows the entire string of Spanish missions, founded in the previous 50 years to secure upper California for Spain.
The map nevertheless does not show the full extent of the San Francisco Bay, suggesting that Vancouver did not sail into it, and that
the Spanish preferred to keep it secret. He does however show the supposed port of Sir Francis Drake, who visited the coast in the
late 16th century (calling the Northwest Coast "New Albion"), which created Britain's main historic claim to the region.
Further south the harbour of San Diego is well defined, as is San Pedro Bay, the current port of Los Angeles. After visiting California
he spent the winter in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), being the third European to visit after Cook and La Pérouse.
Wikipedia:
The next year (1793), he returned to British Columbia, and proceeded further north. He got to 56°N, but because the more northern
parts had already been explored by Cook, he sailed south to California, hoping to find Bodega y Quadra and fulfill his mission, but
the Spaniard was not there. He again spent the winter in the Sandwich Islands.
In 1794, he first went to Cook Inlet, the northernmost point of his exploration, and from there followed the coast south to Baranov
Island, which he had visited the year before. He then set sail for Great Britain by way of Cape Horn, returning in September 1795,
thus completing a circumnavigation.
The Russians had sailed to the Northwest coast in 1741. Vancouver named Yakutat Bay "Bering Bay". South of Mt Elias lay the
"Pamplona Rocks, described by the Spanish", showing not only how far the Spanish had sailed and charted, but that they had
shared this information with Vancouver.
The next year (1793), he returned to British Columbia, and proceeded further north. He got to 56°N, but because the more northern
parts had already been explored by Cook, he sailed south to California, hoping to find Bodega y Quadra and fulfill his mission, but
the Spaniard was not there. He again spent the winter in the Sandwich Islands.
In 1794, he first went to Cook Inlet, the northernmost point of his exploration, and from there followed the coast south to Baranov
Island, which he had visited the year before. He then set sail for Great Britain by way of Cape Horn, returning in September 1795,
thus completing a circumnavigation.
The Russians had sailed to the Northwest coast in 1741. Vancouver named Yakutat Bay "Bering Bay". South of Mt Elias lay the
"Pamplona Rocks, described by the Spanish", showing not only how far the Spanish had sailed and charted, but that they had
shared this information with Vancouver.
Wikipedia:
In October 1792, he sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton with several boats up the Columbia River. Broughton got as far as the
Columbia River Gorge, sighting and naming Mount Hood.
These discoveries are well shown on the map, as well as "Port Vancouver", already identified as good place for a settlement, later to
be the site of the Hudson Bay Company's Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington).
In October 1792, he sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton with several boats up the Columbia River. Broughton got as far as the
Columbia River Gorge, sighting and naming Mount Hood.
These discoveries are well shown on the map, as well as "Port Vancouver", already identified as good place for a settlement, later to
be the site of the Hudson Bay Company's Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington).
Vancouver also showed that "Cook's River" was in fact "Cook's Inlet", closing one of the last hopes for a route inward to a northwest
passage. Similar to his charting in the south, Vancouver distinguishes between the coastline charted by his expedition (shaded),
and those charted by others. In the south much had been charted by the Spanish. In the north it was the Russians.
The importance of this map, and of Vancouver's Legacy: Wikipedia:
Vancouver determined that the Northwest Passage did not exist at the latitudes that had long been suggested. His charts of the
North American northwest coast were so extremely accurate that they served as the key reference for coastal navigation for
generations.
Robin Fisher, the academic Vice President of Mount Royal College in Calgary and author of two books on Vancouver, states:
"He [ie: Vancouver] put the northwest coast on the map...He drew up a map of the north-west coast that was accurate to the nth
degree, to the point it was still being used into the 20th century as a navigational aid. That's unusual for a map that early."]
Vancouver, however, failed to discover two of the largest and most important rivers on the Pacific coast, the Fraser River and the
Columbia River. (He also missed the Skeena River near Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia.) Although Vancouver did
eventually learn of the Columbia before he finished his survey (from Robert Gray (sea-captain), captain of the American merchant
ship which was the first to sail into the river on May 11, 1792; Gray had first spotted the river on an earlier voyage in 1788) the Fraser
never made it onto his charts.
Stephen R. Bown, noted in Mercator's World magazine (Nov/Dec 1999) that:
"How Vancouver could have missed these rivers while accurately charting hundreds of comparatively insignificant inlets, islands,
and streams is hard to fathom. What is certain is that his failure to spot the Columbia had great implications for the future political
development of the Pacific Northwest...."
While it is difficult to comprehend how Vancouver missed the Fraser River, much of this river's delta was subject to flooding and
summer freshet which prevented the captain from spotting any of its great channels as he sailed the entire shoreline from Point
Roberts to Point Grey in 1792. The Spanish, who preceded Vancouver in 1791, had also missed the Fraser River although they
knew from its muddy plume that there was a major river located nearby.
Vancouver generally established a good rapport with both natives and European foreigners. Despite a long history of warfare
between Britain and Spain, Vancouver maintained excellent relations with his Spanish counterparts and even feted a Spanish sea
captain aboard the tall ship HMS Discovery during his 1792 trip to the Vancouver region. While Captain Vancouver played an
undeniable role in the eventual series of upheavals in native life on the North American Pacific Coast since his explorations opened
up the Northwest coast to European exploration and the long term negative impact on first nations peoples and their cultures,
historical records show Vancouver himself enjoyed good relations with native leaders both in Hawaii - where native leaders ceded
Hawaii to Vancouver in 1794 - as well as the Pacific Northwest. Vancouver's journals exhibit a high degree of sensitivity to natives:
he once wrote of his exploration of a small island on the Alaskan coast on which an important burial site was marked by a sepulchre
of "peculiar character" lined with boards and fragments of military instruments lying near a square box covered with mats.
Vancouver states: This we naturally conjectured contained the remains of some person of consequence, and it much excited the
curiosity of some of our party; but as further examination could not possibly have served any useful purpose, and might have given
umbrage and pain to the friends of the deceased, should it be their custom to visit the repositories of their dead, I did not think it right
that it should be disturbed.
Vancouver also displayed contempt in his journals towards unscrupulous western traders who provided guns to natives by writing:
I am extremely concerned to be compelled to state here, that many of the traders from the civilized world have not only pursued a line
of conduct, diametrically opposite to the true principles of justice in their commercial dealings, but have fomented discords, and
stirred up contentions, between the different tribes, in order to increase the demand for these destructive engines....They have been
likewise eager to instruct the natives in the use of European arms of all descriptions; and have shewn by their own example, that
they consider gain as the only object of pursuit; and whether this be acquired by fair and honourable means, or otherwise, so long
as the advantage is secured, the manner how it is obtained seems to have been, with too many of them, but a very secondary
consideration.
Robin Fisher notes that Vancouver's "relationships with aboriginal groups were generally peaceful; indeed, his detailed survey
would not have been possible if they had been hostile." While there were hostile incidents at the end of Vancouver's last season -
the most serious of which involved a clash with Tlingits at Behm Canal in southeast Alaska in 1794 - these were the exceptions to
Vancouver's exploration of the US and Canadian Northwest coast.
passage. Similar to his charting in the south, Vancouver distinguishes between the coastline charted by his expedition (shaded),
and those charted by others. In the south much had been charted by the Spanish. In the north it was the Russians.
The importance of this map, and of Vancouver's Legacy: Wikipedia:
Vancouver determined that the Northwest Passage did not exist at the latitudes that had long been suggested. His charts of the
North American northwest coast were so extremely accurate that they served as the key reference for coastal navigation for
generations.
Robin Fisher, the academic Vice President of Mount Royal College in Calgary and author of two books on Vancouver, states:
"He [ie: Vancouver] put the northwest coast on the map...He drew up a map of the north-west coast that was accurate to the nth
degree, to the point it was still being used into the 20th century as a navigational aid. That's unusual for a map that early."]
Vancouver, however, failed to discover two of the largest and most important rivers on the Pacific coast, the Fraser River and the
Columbia River. (He also missed the Skeena River near Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia.) Although Vancouver did
eventually learn of the Columbia before he finished his survey (from Robert Gray (sea-captain), captain of the American merchant
ship which was the first to sail into the river on May 11, 1792; Gray had first spotted the river on an earlier voyage in 1788) the Fraser
never made it onto his charts.
Stephen R. Bown, noted in Mercator's World magazine (Nov/Dec 1999) that:
"How Vancouver could have missed these rivers while accurately charting hundreds of comparatively insignificant inlets, islands,
and streams is hard to fathom. What is certain is that his failure to spot the Columbia had great implications for the future political
development of the Pacific Northwest...."
While it is difficult to comprehend how Vancouver missed the Fraser River, much of this river's delta was subject to flooding and
summer freshet which prevented the captain from spotting any of its great channels as he sailed the entire shoreline from Point
Roberts to Point Grey in 1792. The Spanish, who preceded Vancouver in 1791, had also missed the Fraser River although they
knew from its muddy plume that there was a major river located nearby.
Vancouver generally established a good rapport with both natives and European foreigners. Despite a long history of warfare
between Britain and Spain, Vancouver maintained excellent relations with his Spanish counterparts and even feted a Spanish sea
captain aboard the tall ship HMS Discovery during his 1792 trip to the Vancouver region. While Captain Vancouver played an
undeniable role in the eventual series of upheavals in native life on the North American Pacific Coast since his explorations opened
up the Northwest coast to European exploration and the long term negative impact on first nations peoples and their cultures,
historical records show Vancouver himself enjoyed good relations with native leaders both in Hawaii - where native leaders ceded
Hawaii to Vancouver in 1794 - as well as the Pacific Northwest. Vancouver's journals exhibit a high degree of sensitivity to natives:
he once wrote of his exploration of a small island on the Alaskan coast on which an important burial site was marked by a sepulchre
of "peculiar character" lined with boards and fragments of military instruments lying near a square box covered with mats.
Vancouver states: This we naturally conjectured contained the remains of some person of consequence, and it much excited the
curiosity of some of our party; but as further examination could not possibly have served any useful purpose, and might have given
umbrage and pain to the friends of the deceased, should it be their custom to visit the repositories of their dead, I did not think it right
that it should be disturbed.
Vancouver also displayed contempt in his journals towards unscrupulous western traders who provided guns to natives by writing:
I am extremely concerned to be compelled to state here, that many of the traders from the civilized world have not only pursued a line
of conduct, diametrically opposite to the true principles of justice in their commercial dealings, but have fomented discords, and
stirred up contentions, between the different tribes, in order to increase the demand for these destructive engines....They have been
likewise eager to instruct the natives in the use of European arms of all descriptions; and have shewn by their own example, that
they consider gain as the only object of pursuit; and whether this be acquired by fair and honourable means, or otherwise, so long
as the advantage is secured, the manner how it is obtained seems to have been, with too many of them, but a very secondary
consideration.
Robin Fisher notes that Vancouver's "relationships with aboriginal groups were generally peaceful; indeed, his detailed survey
would not have been possible if they had been hostile." While there were hostile incidents at the end of Vancouver's last season -
the most serious of which involved a clash with Tlingits at Behm Canal in southeast Alaska in 1794 - these were the exceptions to
Vancouver's exploration of the US and Canadian Northwest coast.