30 CLAIMS TO 'i'HE NOK'THWEST COAST. 



Spanish competi- Qceaii, aiid ill cloiiig tliis she was actuated largely 

 by knowledge of" the fact that the Russians had 

 a similar object in view.^ Prior to 1768 the 

 Spanish navigators had explored it up to latitude 

 43°, and in 1774, 1775, and 1779 they visited 

 various portions of the same as far north as 

 Prince William Sound, taking possession of much 

 of the country on behalf of their sovereign; and 

 an examination of the map of that region of the 

 present day attests, in the geographical names, 

 the early presence of the Spanish discoverers.^ 

 As late as 1790 Spain asserted her right to the 

 Northwest Coast to latitude 60° N.^ 



The N o o t k ii Somc of the Spanish claims were brought to an 



Sound c out ro- . . . ^ . ^ , 



versy. issuc 111 1789 111 the M ootka feound controversy, 



which was the first dispute between European 

 nations in regard to any territory lying between 

 San Francisco and Prince William Sound. 

 Nootka Sound is situated on the west side of 

 Vancouver Island in about latitude 50° N.^ In 

 1789, on being informed tiiat Russia was intend- 

 ing to occupy it, the Spanisli Government sent 

 out two men-of-war with orders to anticijiate her 

 and drive away all foreigners. No trouble of 



' Greenhow's Memoir, pp. 52, 96. 



2 Vivien de Saint-Martin, vol. I, p. 56; Greenhow's Memoir, p. 57 

 and chap. IV. 



3 American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. V, p. 444. 



^ It appears to have been discovered, and was named, by Cook in 

 1788. Greenhow's Memoir, p. 82. 



