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British Captain George Vancouver, a veteran of Cook's expeditions, begins a survey of the Pacific coast. Charting the many inlets and channels north from near San Luis Obispo to Prince of Wales Island, he confirms that no sea lane connects the Pacific with Hudson Bay. On this voyage he circles Vancouver Island, which he names for himself.
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From his trading post, Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca in what is now Alberta, Canada, Mackenzie crosses the Rocky Mountains and travels through British Columbia, eventually canoeing down the Bella Coola River to the Pacific.
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Lewis had volunteered for a transcontinental expedition that Jefferson tried to organize in 1792; now, as President, Jefferson sees an opportunity to launch this expedition, and sees in Lewis someone who could lead it. Over the next two years, he will guide Lewis as he gains the scientific knowledge, technical skills and special equipment he will need for the
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Spain closes the port of New Orleans to U.S. cargo, violating the 1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo. American rights are restored within six months, but Spanish fears of the young nation's expansionist energies remain.
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Captain Meriwether Lewis leaves Pittsburgh aboard a specially designed keelboat, the Discovery. At Louisville, he is joined by Captain William Clark, an experienced frontier soldier . Together Lewis and Clark proceed up the Mississippi to Wood River, Illinois.
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By April, Napoleon Bonaparte has agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million, although the transfer will violate the terms under which he had received the territory from Spain. Congress approves the deal in October.
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Captain Richard Sparks and the frontiersman Thomas Freeman are appointed by Jefferson to explore and map the Red River region along the United States' border with Tejas.
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The U.S. government moves Cherokee Indians who had attacked Tennessee settlers across the Mississippi into Arkansas.
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John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company to expand his trading empire to the Pacific coast.
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The United States and Great Britain conclude a treaty ending the War of 1812.
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The United States renounces all claims to Tejas in a treaty with Spain that brings Florida under American control.
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William Becknell leads a trading expedition from Franklin, Missouri, into the southern Rockies, where they encounter a Mexican patrol. Informed that Mexico is now an independent republic and that restrictions against foreign traders have been relaxed, Becknell turns south to Santa Fe, where he finds a ready market for his goods. Over the next several years he repeats the trip, blazing a new path along the Cimmaron and Canadian Rivers that becomes part of the Santa Fe Trail.
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Kong Chow Temple is established in San Francisco, the first Buddhist temple in the United States.
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California begins confining its remaining Indian population on harsh military reservations, but the combination of legal enslavement and near genocide has already made California the site of the worst slaughter of Native Americans in United States history. As many as 150,000 Indians lived in the state before 1849; by 1870, fewer than 30,000 will remain.
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Wyoming becomes the first place in the United States where women have the right to vote.
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John Wesley Powell, a veteran of the Civil War who lost part of his right arm at Shiloh and a self-taught expert on mountain geology, leads the first recorded voyage through the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, winning national acclaim and setting the stage for government funded scientific study of the West.