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Why did the Spanish have so many expeditions in the areas of Mexico and the Southwest United States?

User Mgol
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Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest were undertaken several times during the Age of Exploration. Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest date to the papal bull of 1493, and the Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494. In 1513, this claim was reinforced by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, when he claimed all lands adjoining this ocean for the Spanish Crown. Spain only started to colonize the claimed territory north of present-day Mexico in the 18th century, when it settled the northern coast of Las Californias.

Starting in the mid-18th century, Spain's claims in the Pacific Northwest began to be contested by the British and Russians, who established fur trading posts and other settlements in the region. King Charles III of Spain and his successors sent several expeditions from New Spain to present-day Canada and Alaska between 1774 and 1793 to strengthen the Spanish claims. These efforts would eventually come to naught when Spanish claims in the region were ceded to the American government in the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty.

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