Page 42 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Pacific Northwest

40  INTRODUCING THE P A CIFIC NOR THWEST

Elizabeth I, was to sail up the west coast
of North America, plundering gold from
Spanish galleons. After claiming the land
around San Francisco Bay for Britain, Drake
sailed up the Oregon coast, as far north as
the Strait of Juan de Fuca, first navigated by
Juan de Fuca in 1592. Drake then traveled
A Shoshone hunting elk with bow and arrow across the Pacific Ocean back to England.
In the 1770s, Captains George Vancouver
For many tribes, life was so bountiful that (1758–98) and Peter Puget (1765–1822)
a tradition of potlatch evolved. At these accompanied Captain James Cook
elaborate ceremonies, which marked (1728–79) on a voyage along the Pacific
important occasions and which were Northwest coast in search of the fabled
centered around a feast, the host chief Northwest Passage. The explorers sailed
would offer gifts with the expectation that up the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and
the recipients would eventually repay the British Columbia. In 1791, Vancouver and
gesture with loyalty and gifts at a Puget also charted what are now Puget
subsequent potlatch. Sound (Washington) and Vancouver
(British Columbia). However, they did not
Arrival of Explorers notice the Columbia River, discovered the
First Nations peoples thrived in the Pacific following year by Captain Robert Gray, an
Northwest until the 18th century, disturbed American fur trader from the East Coast,
only by occasional incursions by
explorers and traders. In the 16th
century, the first Europeans began
exploring the coastline in search of
the Northwest Passage, a sea route
that would provide a passage
between Europe and the Far East.
The first European to sight the
Pacific Northwest was Spanish
explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo,
who sailed with his crew from
Mexico to southern Oregon in 1543.
Once the Spanish had gained a
stronghold in the New World, the
British, too, wanted a share of the
riches. The mission of Sir Francis
Drake (1540–96), financed by Queen Ship caught in the ice along the northern Pacific coast

25,000–15,000 BC 1492 Christopher 1534–5 Cartier explores
Nomadic hunters arrive Columbus arrives the Canadian east 1579 Sir Francis Drake sails up
in North America across in America coast, sailing up the the west coast of North America
a land bridge from Asia St. Lawrence River as far during his second journey
as Hochelaga (Montreal) around the world (1577–80)
25,000 BC 1500 1550 1600
13,000 BC Massive 1592 Juan de Fuca
floods carve the 1543 Juan Rodriguez sails from Mexico to
Columbia River Gorge Cabrillo, a Spaniard, sails Vancouver Island
from Mexico to the coast and is the first to
Totem pole of southern Oregon navigate the strait
later named for him

US_PNW_038-045_History.indd 40 04/07/16 12:33 pm