Nootka Sound

For other uses of the word Nootka, see Nootka (disambiguation).

Nootka Sound, marked in a NASA map of Vancouver Island.

Nootka 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

Ships of Meares arriving at Nootka Sound in 1788

The inlet is part of the traditional territory of the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth people. They called it Mowichat.^[1] John R. Jewitt, an Englishman who wrote a memoir about his years as a captive of Maquinna in 1802-1805, describes the area in some detail.

European exploration and trade

On August 8, 1774, the Spanish Navy ship Santiago, under Juan Pérez, entered and anchored in the inlet. Although the Spanish did not land, natives paddled to the ship, trading furs for abalone shells from California.^[2] Pérez gave Nootka Sound the name "Surgidero de San Lorenzo". In March 1778, Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy landed on Bligh Island and named the inlet "King George's Sound". He recorded that the native name was Nutka or Nootka, apparently misunderstanding his conversations at Friendly Cove/Yuquot; his informant may have been explaining that he was on an island (itchme nutka, a place you can "go around"). There may also be some confusion with Nuu-chah-nulth, the natives' names for themselves; the earlier Spanish and British names for the Sound swiftly disappeared.

At the time, trade between Asia and North America was a Spanish monopoly, with limited licenses granted to the Portuguese, although the Russians had established a growing fur trading system in Alaska. The Spanish began to challenge the Russians, with Pérez's voyage being the first of many to the Pacific Northwest.^[3] The British also became increasingly active in the region. The next European to visit Nootka Sound after James Cook was the British trader James Hanna, in August 1785. Hanna traded iron bars for furs, which he then sold in China for a handsome profit,^[4] thereby touching off the era of the marine fur trade.

Nootka Crisis

In 1788, the British trader John Meares used Portuguese-flagged ships with English crews to establish a trading post on Nootka Sound from which to engage in highly profitable fur trade with China. While Meares was away, Esteban José Martinez, commanding the Princesa and the San Carlos, arrived in February 1789 with orders to enforce Spanish sovereignty. He established Fort San Miguel, left unharrassed two American ships (who were not considered threats), and impounded Meares' holding and ship, the Efigenia Nubiana.^[5] Two other British ships were seized, including the Princess Royal. This led to the Nootka Crisis and near war between Britain and Spain, and raising questions about Spanish claims to uncolonized land on the Pacific coasts of North and South America. The first Nootka Convention (1790) gave both countries the right to settle along the Pacific coasts, breaking the Spanish monopoly; this led to the Vancouver Expedition of exploration. Difficulties in implementing the terms led to a second, and then a third Nootka Convention (1794).

The Nootka Sound controversy also played a part in the French Revolution. The Spanish Bourbon monarchy asked for French support in the dispute in the event that it led to war between Spain and Great Britain. The French Bourbon king Louis XVI wanted to back Spain against Great Britain, but his right to enter France into an alliance on his own prerogative was disputed by the National Assembly. The Assembly maintained that the King's right to determine foreign policy and declare war was subject to the sovereignty of the people. Eventually the Assembly ruled that a proposal for a declaration of war could be initiated by the king, but had to be ratified by the Assembly; this was a major blow to the monarchy.

Today

For 20 years, Nootka Sound was a centre of world events; since then, it has lapsed into obscurity.^[5][6] Today, it is mentioned in the former unofficial national anthem of English speaking Canada "The Maple Leaf Forever" to represent the western extent of Canada's "fair dominion".

See also

• History of the west coast of North America
• Nootka Convention
• Vancouver Expedition

References

Bibliography

• Harboard, Heather. Nootka Sound and the Surrounding Waters of Maquinna. Surrey: Heritage House Publishing Company Limited, 1996. ISBN 1-895811-03-1.
• Jones, Laurie. Nootka Sound Explored. Campbell River: Ptarmigan Press, 1991. ISBN 0-919537-24-3.
• Manning, William Ray. The Nootka Sound Controversy. Part XVI of the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1904, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905, pp. 279-478. Reprint: Ann Arbor: University Microfilms Inc., 1966.
• Jewitt, John Rodgers (1896). The adventures of John Jewitt: only survivor of the crew of the ship, Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the Indians of Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island. Clement Wilson. Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection
• King, Robert J. "'A regular and reciprocal System of Commerce' — Botany Bay, Nootka Sound, and the isles of Japan", The Great Circle (Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History) vol.19, no.1, 1997, pp.1-29.
• King, Robert J. "William Bolts and the Austrian Origins of the Lapérouse Expedition", Terrae Incognitae, vol.40, 2008, pp.1-28; presented at the Canadian Nautical Research Society Conference, Churchill, Manitoba, 2-7 August 2007.

Coordinates: 49°47′N 126°38′W / 49.783°N 126.633°W / 49.783; -126.633

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