At the far reaches of empire [[electronic resource] ] : the life of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra / / Freeman M. Tovell

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910791413903321
• Autore: Tovell Freeman
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Vancouver, : UBC Press, c2008
• ISBN: 1-282-45697-0; 9786612456978; 0-7748-5595-9
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (490 p.)
• Disciplina: 917.904/1092
• Soggetti: Explorers - Pacific Coast (North America); Explorers - Spain; Pacific Coast (North America) Description and travel; Pacific Coast (North America) Discovery and exploration Spanish
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front Matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Beginnings -- The Explorer: New Spain and the Northwest Coast -- The 1775 Voyage on the Sonora -- Preparations for the 1779 Voyage -- The 1779 Voyage -- Away from the North Pacific -- The Commandant -- The Nootka Crisis and the Spanish Response -- The Administration of San Blas de Nayarit -- The Diplomat -- The Nootka Convention and the Expedition of the Limits -- Bodega at Nootka -- The Commissioners' Negotiations at Nootka -- Leaving Nootka -- Results and Consequences of the Expedition of the Limits -- Endings -- Bodega's Secret Instructions to Eliza for the Reoccupation of Nootka, January 28, 1790 -- Revillagigedo's Instructions to Bodega for the Expedition of the Limits -- History and Description of Bodega's Viaje : The Official Report of the Expedition of the Limits -- Biographical Notes -- Rank Structure of the Spanish Navy -- Glossary -- Chronology -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Capitán de Navío Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was the most important Spanish naval officer on the Northwest Coast in the eighteenth century. Serving from 1774 to 1794, he participated in the ; search for the Northwest Passage and, with George Vancouver, endeavoured to forge a diplomatic resolution to the Nootka Sound controversy between Spain and Britain. Freeman Tovell's thorough and nuanced study presents this officer of Spain's Enlightened Navy as a key figure in the history of the region. Intelligent, observant, and literate, Bodega received high praise from the viceroys of New Spain under whom he served. His enlightened policy toward the Nuu-chah-nulth and his close association with Chief Maquinna are a matter of record. Bodega was not without his imperfections - when his overarching ambition to make a name for himself exceeded his financial reach, he incurred ruinous debts. As a Peruvian creole, he also struggled against the glass ceiling imposed by having been born outside Spain. Despite constant efforts for promotions, he never gained the full recognition from naval and political superiors that his achievements deserved. Bodega's accomplishments place him in the company of Bering, Cook, Vancouver, La Pérouse, and Malaspina - those who advanced a better understanding of the geography, ethnography, and natural history of the area. The most complete study of Bodega and his epoch yet written, At the Far Reaches of Empire is an absorbing narrative of eighteenth-century empire building.