The Northwest Coast

British Navigation, Trade and Discoveries to 1812

By Barry M. Gough
Series: Canada and International Relations
Publisher: UBC Press
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774842921, 272 pages, November 2011
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774856553, 272 pages, January 1992

Table of contents

Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

1. The 'Backside of America'

2. Nova Albion

3. The Strait of Anian and Other Northwest Passages

4. Sea Otter Pelts, Muscovites, and Mandarins

5. Merchant Sea Traders

6. Meares and a Scheme of Empire

7. Botany Bay and Nootka Sound

8. Encroachments in the Spanish Lake

9. Impasse

10. A Voyage of Discovery

11. Westward the Course of Empire

12. Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Description

The Northwest Coast documents Britain's rise to
pre-eminence in this far-flung corner of the empire. It shows how the
relentless activities of its commercial interests, the adroit use of
its naval power, and the steely resolve of its diplomats secured
British claims to dominion and rights to trade along the Northwest
Coast. Written by a leading maritime scholar and based on fresh
research into known manuscripts and printed works on Pacific trade and
exploration, this book incorporates new interpretations on exploration
and commercial activity in this area.

Reviews

... readers will be impressed with the thorough and readable descriptions of adventurous merchants, official explorers and statesman like imperial visions. There is no hesitation in recommending this book most enthusiastically. It is the assured work of a scholar who has mastered his subject after years of study, and a brief review cannot begin to do it justice.

- Paul Webb

This is an important work, indispensable to any collection of Canadiana, British Columbian, or Pacific Northwest history.

- W. Michael Mathes, University of San Francisco

In Gough's pages we follow in the wake of the three masted ship; tool of empire and harbinger of British dominion of the Pacific.

- David L. Nicandri