<P> In the late 18th century, Spain reacted to the expanding Russian and British presence in the Pacific Northwest by sending exploratory expeditions along the coast as far north as Alaska . In 1774 Juan José Pérez Hernández was commissioned to explore the coast up to 60 ° N, but only made it as far as 55 ° 30 _́ N. Off Langara Island in Haida Gwaii he made contact with the Haida, and on the homeward journey, the Nuu - chah - nulth . In 1775, a two - ship exploration expedition led by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta landed on the coast of today's Washington--the first European to have sailed this far north along the coast . The expedition re-asserted Spanish claims to all the coastal lands, including to the Russian settlements in the north . The two ships sailed together as far north as Point Grenville, named Punta de los Martires (or "Point of the Martyrs") by Heceta in response to an attack by the local Quinault Indians . He was the first European to sight the mouth of the Columbia River . </P> <P> By design, the two vessels separated with one continuing to what is today the border between Washington state and Canada . The other (now with second officer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra at the helm) moved up the coast according to its orders, ultimately reaching a position at 59 ° north latitude on August 15, 1775, entering Sitka Sound near the present - day town of Sitka, Alaska . It is there that the Spaniards performed numerous "acts of sovereignty," naming and claiming Puerto de Bucareli (Bucareli Sound), Puerto de los Remedios, and Mount San Jacinto (renamed Mount Edgecumbe by British explorer James Cook three years later). </P> <P> In 1790, Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo led an expedition that included visits to the sites of today's Cordova, Alaska and Valdez, Alaska, where acts of sovereignty were performed . Fidalgo went as far as today's Kodiak Island, visiting the small Russian settlement there . Fidalgo then went to the Russian settlement at Alexandrovsk (today's English Bay or Nanwalek, Alaska), southwest of today's Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula, where again, Fidalgo re-asserted the Spanish claim to the area by conducting a formal ceremony of sovereignty . </P> <P> In 1791, the Malaspina Expedition undertook a search for the Northwest Passage, surveying the Alaska coast from Yakutat Bay to Prince William Sound . At Yakutat Bay, the expedition made contact with the Tlingit . The expedition's scientists made a study of the tribe, recording information on social mores, language, economy, warfare methods, and burial practices . Artists with the expedition, Tomas de Suria and José Cardero, produced portraits of tribal members and scenes of Tlingit daily life . A glacier between Yakutat Bay and Icy Bay was subsequently named after Malaspina . The botanist Luis Née also accompanied the expedition, during which he collected and described numerous new plants . </P>

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