Editing Oregon boundary dispute (section)

==Background==
The Oregon Question originated in the 18th century during the early European or American exploration of the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Various empires began to consider the area suitable for colonial expansion, including the Americans, Russians, Spanish and British. Naval captains such as the Spanish [[Juan José Pérez Hernández]], British [[George Vancouver]] and American [[Robert Gray (sea-captain)|Robert Gray]] gave defining regional water formations like the [[Columbia River]] and the [[Puget Sound]] their modern names and charted them in the 1790s. Overland explorations were commenced by the British [[Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)|Alexander Mackenzie]] in 1792 and later followed by the American [[Lewis and Clark]] expedition, which reached the mouth of the [[Columbia River]] in 1805. These explorers often claimed in the name of their respective governments sovereignty over the Northwest Coast. The knowledge of fur-bearing animal populations like the [[California sea lion]], [[North American beaver]] and the [[Northern fur seal]] were used to create an economic network called the [[maritime fur trade]]. The [[North American fur trade|fur trade]] would remain the main economic interest that drew Euro-Americans to the Pacific Northwest for decades. Merchants exchanged goods for fur pelts along the coast with indigenous nations such as the [[Chinookan people]], the [[Aleut]]s and the [[Nuu-chah-nulth]].

[[Image:Columbiarivermap.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Map of the Columbia River and its tributaries, showing modern political boundaries and cities.]]

===Spanish colonization===
A series of [[Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest|expeditions to the Pacific Northwest]] were financed by the Spanish to strengthen their claims to the region. Creating a colony called [[Santa Cruz de Nuca]] on [[Vancouver Island]], the Spanish were the first European colonisers of the Pacific Northwest outside Russian America to the north. A period of tensions with the United Kingdom, called the [[Nootka Crisis]], arose after the Spanish seized a British vessel. However the three [[Nootka Convention]]s averted conflict, with both countries agreeing to protect their mutual access to [[Friendly Cove]] against outside powers. While the Spanish colony was abandoned, a border delineating the northern reaches of [[New Spain]] was not included. Despite the Nootka Conventions still allowing the Spanish to establish colonies in the region, no more attempts were made as other geopolitical and domestic matters drew the attention of the authorities. With the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] of 1819, the Spanish formally withdrew all formal claims to lands north of the [[42nd parallel north|42° north]].

===Russian interest===
The [[Imperial Russian government]] established the [[Russian-American Company]] in 1799, a monopoly among Russian subjects for fur trading operations in [[Russian America]] with the [[Ukase of 1799]]. In part from the growing Russian activities to the north, the Spanish created the [[Spanish missions in California|Catholic Missions]] to create colonies in [[Alta California]]. Plans for creating Russian colonies in what became the modern American states of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Oregon]] were formulated by [[Nikolai Rezanov]]. He aimed to relocate the primary colony of Russian America to the entrance of the Columbia River, but was unable to enter the river in 1806 and the plan was abandoned.{{sfn|Langsdorff|1927|p=21}} 

In 1808 [[Alexander Andreyevich Baranov]] sent the ''[[Russian schooner Nikolai|Nikolai]]'', with the captain "ordered to explore the coast south of Vancouver Island, barter with the natives for sea otter pelts, and if possible discover a site for a permanent Russian post in the Oregon Country."{{sfn|Donnelly|1985|p=4}} The ship wrecked on the [[Olympic Peninsula]] and the surviving  crew did not return to [[New Archangel]] for two years. The failure of the vessel to find a suitable location led to the Russians to not consider much of the Northwest coast worth colonizing.{{sfn|Donnelly|1985|p=30}} Their interest in the Puget Sound and the Columbia River was diverted to Alta California, with [[Fort Ross]] soon established. 

The [[Russo-American Treaty of 1824]] and the 1825 [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1825)|Treaty of Saint Petersburg]] with the British formally created the southern border of Russian America at parallel 54°40′ north. Specifically, it was agreed, in the 1824 treaty, that no American settlement would be established on the coast or adjacent island north of 54°40′, and no Russian settlement to the south (Russian [[Fort Ross]] was in [[Alta California]], Mexico, and was outside the purview of the treaty). The treaty did not make any explicit statements about sovereignty or territorial claims. The 1825 treaty with Britain was more strongly worded and defined the boundary between Russian and [[British possessions]] in North America, which ran north from 54°40′ through what is now the [[Alaska Panhandle]] to the [[141st meridian west]], then along that line north to the Arctic Ocean.

===Early Anglo-American competition===
Neither the Russian nor Spanish empires held significant plans at promoting colonies along the Northwest Coast by the 1810s. The British and the Americans were the remaining two nations with citizens active in commercial operations in the region. Starting with a party of the [[Montreal]]-based [[North West Company]] (NWC) employees led by [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]] in 1807, the British began land-based operations and opened trading posts throughout the region. Thompson extensively explored the Columbia River watershed. While at the junction of Columbia and [[Snake River|Snake]] Rivers, he erected a pole on July 9, 1811, with a notice stating "Know hereby that this country is claimed by Great Britain as part of its territories&nbsp;..." and additionally stated the intention of the NWC to build a trading post there.{{sfn|Elliott|1911}} [[Fort Nez Percés]] was later established at the location in 1818. The American [[Pacific Fur Company]] (PFC) began operations in 1811 at [[Fort Astoria]], constructed at the entrance of the Columbia River. The eruption of the [[War of 1812]] did not lead to a violent confrontation in the Pacific Northwest between the competing companies. Led by [[Donald Mackenzie (explorer)|Donald Mackenzie]], PFC officers agreed to liquidate its assets to their NWC competitors, with an agreement signed on 23 November 1813.{{sfn|Chittenden|1902|pp=222–223}} {{HMS|Racoon|1808|6}} was ordered to capture Fort Astoria, though by the time it arrived, the post was already under NWC management. After the collapse of the PFC, American [[mountain men]] operated in small groups in the region, typically based east of the Rocky Mountains, only to meet once a year at the annual [[Rocky Mountain Rendezvous]].