Nootka sound
Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ′ 13 " N , 126 ° 27 ′ 37" W.
The Nootka Sound is a deep, branched into three main arms sea fjord in the Pacific Northwest of America. The Sound is a bay in the west of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the middle of the five sounds that shape the west coast, next to Quatsino Sound , Kyuquot Sound , Clayoquot Sound and Barkley Sound .
history
The entrance to Nootka Sound was discovered in 1774 by Juan Pérez , a Spanish navigator. In March 1778, on his third circumnavigation, the British captain James Cook was the first European to enter the sound. Past Friendly Cove (eleven years later the scene of the Nootka Sound controversy ) he anchored in front of the small Bligh Island in the middle of the sound . Here he made the acquaintance of the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka).
The Nootka shouted "itchme nutka, itchme nutka" to him, which means "go around" (after Yuquot ), but Cook misunderstood this as the name of the people. Nevertheless, the sound still bears this name today.
John Meares , a British navigator, opened a temporary trading post in Friendly Cove (now: Yuquot ) in 1788. After the Spanish settled here in 1789 and hijacked four British ships, there was a serious diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and Spain, the Nootka Sound controversy, which was finally settled in 1795. Since then, the Nootka sound has been left to its own devices. Like almost the entire west coast of Vancouver Island, it is known for its abundant marine fauna and the unspoiled nature in some parts.
literature
- Heather Harbord: Nootka Sound and the Surrounding Waters of Maquinna. Heritage House Publishing Company Limited, Surrey BC 1996; ISBN 1-895811-03-1 .
- Laurie Jones: Nootka Sound Explored. A West Coast History. Ptarmigan Press, Campbell River BC 1991; ISBN 0-919537-24-3 .
- William Ray Manning: The Nootka Sound Controversy. In: Annual Report of the American Historical Association , Part 16, 1904, ISSN 0065-8561 , pp. 279-484 (Reprint: University Microfilms Inc., Ann Arbor MI 1980).
Web links
- Nootka sound . In: BC Geographical Names (English)
- Nootka Sound ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
Individual evidence
- ^ Canadian Military History Gateway: Canadian Military Heritage. The Evacuation of Nootka. (engl.)
- ↑ City of Nanaimo: Historical Timeline of Nanaimo. (engl.)