Last Spanish Exploration — Vancouver, BC
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Dunbar Loop
N 49° 16.401 W 123° 15.252
10U E 481509 N 5457874
The Spanish explored North America's West Coast north from Mexico to today's British Columbia. In BC they established Fort San Miguel (1789-1795) at Nootka Sound. This plaque discusses their encounter with British Captain George Vancouver.
Waymark Code: WMQ817
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 01/06/2016
Views: 5
The Spanish explored North America's West Coast north from Mexico through today's California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. In BC they established
Fort San Miguel (1789-1795) at Nootka Sound.
In June 1792 the Malaspina expedition encountered the British Navy officer Captain George Vancouver off of Point Grey, just below where this monument is sited. While Britain and Spain had tensions in the Atlantic, the two exploration teams had an amicable exchange. In honour of this visit Vancouver's Spanish Banks and English Bay were named after them.
Throughout the Salish Sea - the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound - many islands and bodies of water retain the Spanish names given to them. Islands like Galiano, Valdes, and San Juan or the Juan de Fuca and Haro straits.
But 1792 also saw the withdrawal of Spanish military personnel at Fort San Miguel and the last Spanish Exploration. This also allow the British to claim lands west of the Rocky Mountains from today's State of California through to the Russian held Alaska.
The plaque reads:
In June 1792, these waters were the site of an encounter between Spain's Malaspina expedition, led by captains Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés, and that of British captain George Vancouver. Despite tensions between the two empires, the parties exchanged courtesies, and after circumnavigating Vancouver Island separately, they shared information at Nootka. Their investigations disproved the European theory that a navigable route to the Atlantic Ocean existed in the region and marked the last major Spanish voyage to search for a North West Passage along what is now the coast of British Columbia.
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