Thus in the 18th century European traders cherished the hope of finding an easily accessible waterway across North America. They based their hopes on legendary accounts about the Northwest Passage.
One of the most mysterious and influential of these accounts was that of Juan de Fuca document 1. In an elderly Greek pilot by the name of Apostolos Valerianus a. Lok subsequently submitted the story for publication. De Fuca claimed that in he had been a member of a Spanish sea voyage along the Pacific Coast north of Mexico. The expedition had sailed to about 47 degrees north latitude, at which point de Fuca's boat had turned eastward into a strait that seemed to cut deep into the North American continent.
De Fuca said that the expedition had sailed for 20 days in the strait and come out in the Atlantic Ocean, at which point it retraced its route to Mexico. De Fuca claimed that the natives living near the strait were rich in gold, silver, and pearls. Of course, the Strait of Juan de Fuca does not cross the North American continent, and the Native people of the Northwest were never in possession of large quantities of gold, silver, or pearls.
Yet, like the legend of El Dorado, the fabled Northwest Passage caught the imagination of many Europeans and persisted in the minds of explorers.
In Englishman Charles Barkley discovered the entrance to a large strait at approximately the latitude de Fuca described, and he named the Strait of Juan de Fuca after its 16th-century promoter. Just as Europeans were confused about the geography and natural resources of the land they were so eager to explore, Indians were initially confused by the ships and people who met them on the Pacific coast. While conducting research among the Clatsop people during the late 19th century, ethnographer Franz Boas heard a story about the Clatsops first contact with Europeans document 7.
The storyteller claimed that an old woman was walking along the Oregon coast one day and saw the first European ship to visit the area. Because she had never seen a ship before, she conceived of the strange object as a monster that looked like a whale with two trees sticking out of it. A creature resembling a bear with a human face came out of the monster. She then went home to tell her strange tale.
Many Clatsop people came to the ocean to see the strange thing she described, and they met the bear-like Europeans on the beach. The Europeans wanted water, and in the confusion one Clatsop man went aboard the ship, while his relatives set fire to it.
The Clatsops were apparently able to salvage much of the copper and iron from the ship, as they became rich by trading these goods with their neighbors inland and along the coast. The riches and celebrity that the Clatsops gained in their encounter with a European ship could have served as incentive for other Indian peoples to greet and trade with ships that came to their homes. In this way, the promise of riches encouraged both Europeans and Indians to trade with each other.
Meeting In the s, when sustained contact between Europeans and Indians in the Pacific Northwest began, European explorers, traders, entrepreneurs, and national governments were playing a tricky game of international chess. Europeans came to the Northwest intending to claim territory, make a profit, win intellectual glory, convert souls, and maintain peace with their neighbors—all at the same time. The game that they played had certain rules, the most fundamental of which was the right of first discovery and possession.
The way in which these two words were defined, however, led to much confusion and diplomatic hedging by all parties. For example, shortly after Columbus arrived in the New World in , the papacy drew up a document known as the Treaty of Tordesillas.
The treaty asserted that Spain had a right to claim all lands west of a certain point in the Atlantic Ocean—basically, most of the unexplored continents of North and South America. At that time, the Pope was a major power broker among the Christian European nations, and he therefore negotiated this treaty not between Spain and the people of the New World, but between Spain and Portugal, the two most avid colonial powers of the 15th century. Partially as a result of this agreement, Spain became the wealthiest country in Europe in the 16th century because of the gold and silver extracted from its colonies in present-day Mexico and Peru.
Because they were busy administering their enormous empire in South America and Central America, Spanish leaders did not deem it necessary to immediately inhabit, or even explore, all the territory allotted to them in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Nearly years later, the Spanish presence in the Pacific Northwest was still negligible. The Spanish were additionally secure in their claim to lands on the Pacific Ocean due to Balboa's trek across the Isthmus of Panama.
Upon sighting the blue waters of the Pacific, Balboa claimed the ocean for Spain. Of course, the Chinook and Makah and Salish and other peoples of the Pacific Northwest in no way considered themselves Spanish subjects, nor did they even know that Spain had laid claim to their land. The Russians did know about the pretensions of Spanish land claims in the New World, but they had no intention of letting those claims go unchallenged.
Petersburg in and marched toward the Pacific Coast. Sent in part to establish whether or not Asia and North America were actually separate continents, this expedition discovered the Bering Strait in The explorers then sailed toward Alaska but never landed. Nonetheless, the expedition laid the groundwork for the fur trade with China. Vitus Bering and his successors soon did establishing trading posts at various points along the coast of what is now Alaska.
This activity alarmed the Spanish, who had hoped that the Northwest Coast would lie undisturbed by European powers until the Spanish Empire had the time and resources to colonize it.
It was in this climate of suspicion that the Spanish launched the Perez Expedition of from the naval base at San Blas, Mexico, to the Northwest Coast.
Perez and his men were sent to spy on Russian traders, but they were also specifically instructed to take possession of the land as far as 60 degrees north latitude. For the Spanish, taking possession of the land entailed erecting a large wooden cross onshore and burying a glass bottle at its foot, containing written documentation of Spain's claim.
Adverse weather prevented Perez from taking these actions, but his expedition did meet with the people of the Northwest at two locations document 4 and document 5.
After spreading feathers on the water near Perez's boat, the Haida proceeded to trade with Perez's crew. The Haida offered sea otter skins, hats, blankets, and other items made from cedar trees in exchange for metal goods from Perez's boat. This boat-to-boat trade was repeated about a month later with some unidentified people probably the Nuu-chah-nulth off the coast of Vancouver Island.
Although Perez and his men forged tentative economic bonds with the people of the Northwest Coast, they failed to meet their political objective, which had been to take effective possession of the land in the face of other imperial competitors.
In addition to facing competition from the Russians, the Spanish also had to contend with the English, who did not acknowledge the validity of the Treaty of Tordesillas and who were busy looking for lands that seemed outside the realm of actual Spanish control. The Spanish believed that the best way to keep competitors out of their territory was to keep their maps, sea logs, and explorations secret from other European powers.
Since the Spanish did not publish records of their explorations, the only way to prove their claims was to leave some sign on the land. Unsatisfied with the results of the Perez expedition, the Spanish sent the Bodega-Hezeta expedition of to make landfall and establish Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest with more authority. This expedition did reach land and plant crosses, fulfilling the Spanish government's goals.
The Spanish had good reason to be nervous about the encroachments of other European powers. In addition to the Russians, who were expanding their Alaska-based fur trade southward, western European nations—such as France, the Netherlands, and especially Great Britain—were becoming stronger colonial powers and threatening Spain's leading role in the colonization of the New World.
In , and more extensively in , the British Parliament promised to handsomely reward the person who discovered a Northwest Passage across North America—a passage widely believed to exist smack in the middle of the land claimed by the Spanish throne.
While Europeans fretted and schemed, the Indian people of the Pacific Northwest were concerned with their own affairs. The people of the Northwest coast lived in orderly, hierarchical societies based on extended family groups.
Several of these groups might be on particularly friendly terms because of intermarriage, for example, and be allied against other groups. Southern peoples those near and below the 49th parallel particularly feared encroachment by their powerful neighbors to the north especially the Haida. Conflict between various groups occasionally broke out, but these conflicts were not especially bloody by European standards.
Because these Native societies were quite hierarchical, leading families sought to maintain and advance their social positions by accumulating and then distributing material wealth. In addition, accumulation of wealth and displays of power and prestige often prevented encroachment by neighboring groups. Overall, trading for services and material goods was a vital component of Indian life on the Northwest Coast. When Europeans arrived with trade goods, coastal Indians saw the opportunity for advancement within their own societies by accumulating rare and exotic European goods such as copper, beads and iron blades.
Tribes in the north, like the Tolowa toh-LAW-wah , built canoes from giant redwood trees; in the south, the Cahuilla kaw-WEE-ah made clothing, nets, and sandals out of desert agave plants. In fact, these tribes produced so many different items that they created a huge trading network in which people traveled by foot or river to swap their goods.
Some tribes, like the Chumash and Cahuilla, broke off pieces of giant clam shells to use as money. They also gathered acorns that could be ground into flour or made into soup.
Along the coasts, tribes like the Chumash fished and hunted sea lions and whales. When gold was discovered in in Coloma, California, thousands of settlers rushed onto tribal lands, pushing out native people. Read more about the landforms and natural resources of the coast plain.
Evidence of human inhabitants along the Coastal Plain dates as far back as 12, to 10, B. There is limited evidence of human life in the Paleoindian period. Groups were likely small and nomadic, but various simple stone implements dating to this period have been found. The peoples of this period followed animals, hunting to survive. The Archaic period from 10, to 8, B.
The Woodland period from 8, B. Given the wide geographic area, the cultures of Native American tribes in the coastal plains region varied considerably. Some of the tribes that lived along the Atlantic coast and are particularly familiar to the modern student include the Susquehannock, Nanticoke and Powhatan Tribes.
The Woodland period is the most significant period in the development of Native American cultures and civilizations in this region. While each tribe had its own faith, language and culture, all developed improved pottery, more elaborate religious beliefs and rituals and improved weaponry, including the bow during this time. Increased technology was accompanied by a growing focus on agriculture and village life. It's interesting to see the differences in religion, clothing, lodging and diet that vary based on location.
The battle was fought at San Jacinto, near what is now Houston. The Texans won the battle and the Mexicans surrendered. Afterwards, Texas became independent from Mexico. A monument was put up in the park to remind visitors of how important the battle was. On the other side of the park, the Battleship Texas is anchored in Buffalo Bayou.
Regions of Texas. Learn More about the Gulf Coast! Fun Activities Teachers and Parents. Learn More about Texas!
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