The Anglo-American Convention of 1818 sets the…
October 1818 CE
The Anglo-American Convention ignores the Nootka Convention of 1794, which gives Spain joint rights in the region.
The Convention also ignores Russian settlements in the region.
The United States refer to this region as the Oregon Country, while the United Kingdom refers to the region as the Columbia District.
During the War of 1812, the Pacific Northwest had been a distant region of the conflict.
Two rival fur trading outfits, the Canadian North West Company (NWC) and the American Pacific Fur Company (PFC), had until then both operated in the region peaceably.
Funded largely by John Jacob Astor, the PFC had operated without many opportunities for military defense by the United States Navy.
News of the war and of a coming British warship had put the American company into a difficult position.
In October 1813, management had met at Fort Astoria and agreed to liquidate its assets to the NWC.
HMS Racoon arrived the following month and in honor of George III of the United Kingdom, Fort Astoria had been renamed to Fort George.
In negotiations with American Albert Gallatin throughout 1818, British plenipotentiary Frederick John Robinson had been offered a proposition for a partition that would have, as Gallatin stated, "all the waters emptying in the sound called the Gulf of Georgia."
Robinson didn't agree to the proposal and subsequent talks didn't focus on establishing a permanent border west of the Rocky Mountains.
The Treaty of 1818 makes the resources of the vast region "free and open" to citizens from either nation.
The treaty isn't made to combine American and British interests against other colonial powers in the region; rather, the document states that the joint occupancy of the Pacific Northwest is intended to "prevent disputes" between the two nations from arising.
In the ensuing years, the North West Company will continue to expand its operations in the Pacific Northwest. Skirmishes with its major competitor, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), had already flared into the Pemmican War.
The end of the conflict in 1821 will see the NWC mandated by the British Government to merge into the HBC.
Groups
New Spain, Viceroyalty of
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Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)
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Russian Empire
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British North America
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North West Company
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Russian America
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United States of America (US, USA) (Washington DC)
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Britain (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
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American Fur Company
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Spain, Bourbon Kingdom (first restoration) of
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Oregon Country (claimed by (U.S.A. and Britain)
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Subjects
Regions
Northern North America
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