Page 5: 1800-1849

To the Introduction & Index

1802: Sitka's Importance Grows

    Sitka became headquarters for the Russian American Company. Bands of Tlingits massacred most of the Russians at Sitka. Although Russia rebuilt their compound, they were never able to exercise complete control over the Tongass region. The Tlingits kept them confined mostly to their forts except for well-armed groups sent frequently by the Russians to sack Tlingit villages.

1803: Louisiana Purchase

    The United States doubled its territory by purchasing the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 Million. The U.S. gained (827,000 sq mi) included the heartlands of the French fur trade (Le Campagnie de Nord), and more or less isolated that company's ventures to the Canadian territory around Winnipeg, Edmonton, and the Great Slave Lake region.

1810-1821: Mexican War of Revolution

    The Catholic Church (Father Hidago) declared Mexican independence from Spain. War ensued. On one side was Spanish Caste with peon Indian conscripts who fought the Loyalist Spanish Army. A treaty between the two sides in 1821 recognized Mexico's independence. A Republic was proclaimed in 1822 and established in 1824.

1811: Fort Garry Established

    A shareholder in the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Lord Selkirk, made arrangements to place a settlement of Scottish Highlanders at Fort Garry, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet (Winnipeg). The settlement lay across the path of the North West Company traders who feared that the settlement would interfere with their trade. After some conflicts the two companies joined forces in 1821 under the HBC. This ceased Montreal's control of the western fur trade and HBC became dominant in western fur trading and free to expand British territories.

1812: The War of 1812

    The war began as an American invaded the British colony in Canada. In the first skirmish the Americans were defeated and Detroit was captured by the British. But at sea, American privateers captured over 500 British ships. During 1813 the British fleet was annihilated on Lake Erie, and Detroit was re-captured by the Americans. The U.S. pursued the British into Canada, defeating them and their Indian allies.

    A turn in the war came upon another British fleet being defeated on Lake Champlain. Lacking naval support, the British invasion force of 10,000 retreated into Canada. Then in 1814 a British force captured the American Capitol in Washington, DC and burned much of the city as well as the Capitol itself.

    The war actually ended with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. But unaware of the treaty, the battle of New Orleans was fought, where the American forces prevailed over the British. Called a useless war by the U.S. Congress, the powers of the Presidency were reduced by legislative acts.

1815: End of French Power

    Britain defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, thus ending all of French authority in North America.

1819-22: Sir John Franklin

    Franklin commanded an overland sled dog exploration of the Canadian Arctic coast east from the Coppermine River.

1821: HBC Expansion

    The Hudson's Bay Company merged with the North West Company. The consolidation resulted in HBC achieving a monopoly in North American fur trade. But still, the French were strong traders, especially in the western interior of Canada. Sir George Simpson (1787-1860) was knighted by the King in 1821. Shortly thereafter Simpson was appointed Governor of Rupert's Land (HBC Territory). Simpson ruled as a tantamount emperor of the Northwest for some 40 years. During this time HBC explored the Northwest to the Arctic Ocean and into territory that is now Alaska. The British established a safe harbor (Gordon) near the isthmus of the Mackenzie River. Fort McPherson became a springboard for further exploration into Alaska. The superior position of HBC served to reduce the influence of the French trading company.

1824: Russian-American Treaty

    The difficulties of supplying Russian American Company posts in Alaska forced them to increasingly rely upon American and British traders, and in the early 1820s negotiations began with the governments of the United States and Great Britain to formalize that relationship. The Russian-American Treaty of 1824 granted American merchants the right to trade in Russian America for a period of ten years.

1825: Anglo-Russian Convention

    Negotiations with the British were much more difficult than with the Americans, but after a year, a convention was agreed upon that set the east-west boundary between British and Russian territories in the interior of the country at the 141st Meridian, and the north-south boundary at 54° 40'. The complex boundary among the peaks and inlets of the coast would not be firmly established until 1903.

1825-27: Sir John Franklin

    Franklin commanded an overland sled dog expedition and explored the Arctic Coast from the Mackenzie River west to the 150th Meridian in Alaska (Near present Prudhoe Bay).

1827: Fort Langley

    The Hudson's Bay Company built this fort, the first permanent post on the mainland of what would become, in 1858, British Columbia.

1829-33: Captain John Ross' second voyage

    Ross charted the exact position of the North Magnetic Pole, investigated the Prince Regent Sound as a possible route of the Northwest Passage, and charted 700 miles of the Arctic Ocean coast. This exploration closed the gaps of British land and sea exploration of the entire Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska.

1835: Russian Exploration of Yukon River

    Russia began exploring up the Yukon River from Saint Michaels. The Russians stopped at Nulato, some 70 miles from the coast but 300 miles up the Yukon river from its isthmus. The Yukon River became Russia's first continental incursion except for Fort Ross on the upper Pacific coast of California.

1836 (March 2): Texas Independence

    Texas declared independence from Mexico.

1837: Nulato Established

    A Russian fort was built on the bank of the Yukon River at Nulato.

1837: Smallpox Epidemic

    An epidemic of smallpox decimated the population of Nulato. Chief Unilla and two others were the only survivors.

1838-1867: Britain in the Arctic

    Britain mastered the Arctic Coast from Hudson Bay around Alaska, explored the Mackenzie and Porcupine Rivers, the mid Yukon River 500 miles into the interior of Alaska at Tanana, established fur trade, and cemented its claim to the Pacific coast from Seattle northward to Prince Rupert. Also, Britain had established posts all along the Arctic shores of Alaska around to Nome, thus cementing British claim to more than half of Alaska.

1839: Massacre at Nulato

    A band of Koyukons headed by a Yataalii spiritual Leader massacred the Russians at Nulato. Also caught in the frey and killed were Lt. Barnard and a crew of 12 British marines of the HMS Enterprise. The Russian Captain Darabin and 57 others were killed.

1841: Upper and Lower Canada united as the Province of Canada

    Kingston was the capitol. The first United Parliament met June 13.

1843: Victoria, British Columbia founded

1845: Annexation of Texas

    Texas was Annexed by consent to become a U.S. Territory.

1845: Sir John Franklin's final voyage

    He departed from England in command of 129 men aboard two vessels, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. His mission was to discover a Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean.

    The two ships were last seen on July 26, 1845 by a whaler in Baffin Bay. The British Admiralty began the most massive search in history for the lost explorer. More that 50 of His Majesty's ships participated in the search, and there were a dozen or more searches by land. A great deal more information is available on the Net.

1846-1848: War between Mexico and The United States

1846 (June 15): Oregon Treaty

    Oregon and the Pacific Coast south of the 49th parallel were acquired by the U.S. from Britain.

1846: Porcupine River

    HBC crossed the Continental divide at Eagle Plains and established a trading post, Lapierre House, on the Bell River, a tributary of the Porcupine.

1847: New HBC Posts

    HBC Trading posts were established at Old Crow, Gwichyaa Zhee (Fort Yukon), and others along the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers in Canada and Alaska. (Alexander Murray was the HBC Principal in charge.)

1848: More HBC Posts

    HBC established trading posts down the Yukon at Tanana. This extended a possible territorial claim by Britian some 500 miles into Alaska's interior. See the Map of Northwest Exploration.

[Note from Murray Lundberg: Bill's comments from here on regarding HBC posts below Fort Yukon are very much a disputed claim. Those who think that such posts exist also say that all official records have been altered to hide their existence.]

1848: U.S. and Mexico treaty of Guadalupe

    The U.S.gained the territory of six Western States. This consolidated the territory of the United States to its present continental boundaries, except for Alaska.

1848: More HBC Posts

    HBC continued to establish trading posts further down the Yukon River at Kokrines. The HBC Territory (British) had then extended over halfway across Alaska's Interior and the entire Arctic Coasts where no other country had explored.

1849: Vancouver Island

    The Hudson's Bay Company, who had built Fort Victoria in 1843-1844, was given a lease to all of Vancouver Island for the nominal sum of seven shillings a year. The following year, on March 11, 1850, the British Crown Colony of Vancouver Island was proclaimed.

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