Vancouver claims Alaska?

The British claim on and then control of what is now the province of British Columbia started with the expedition of George Vancouver to the area. While it nearly lead to a war with Spain as the Spanish already claimed the area, the crisis was averted and the area was eventually incorporated into the Empire. During the expedition Vancouver also mapped the coastline of southern Alaska.

I'm wondering, what if Vancouver also staked a claim on Alaska during his expedition? I'm curious what impact you guys and gals think it would have on Russo-British relations and on the development of western North America.
 
Well, Vancouver's claim would probably have gotten him a big fat court-martial on the grounds that he had no business doing so. When he returned to England, he found himself in very bad odor, up to and including Prime Minister William Pitt himself, though for family reasons, not political. I don't see his one mission, however successful, being sufficient to be a basis for future claims. The Russians actually got settlements into Alaska, the British did not.

At the time of Vancouver's return, the Wars of the French Revolution were burning and a certain Corsican corporal was starting to make a name for himself. Britain had other worries. As far as the history of Alaska and the British Empire went, it was, for the British, a rare case of CBE. Can't Be Everywhere.:D Geographically, you would be hard pressed to find any place on the planet with a coastline that was farther away than Alaska's from Mother England.
 
But the Russian presence is only a few decades old by this time, and Russian presence was sparse. Not much of a rock solid dominion over the land. The developments in France were also only just beginning.

Though I hadn't taken in consideration Vancouver's poor standing in the London political arena, because I don't know much about it.
 
But the Russian presence is only a few decades old by this time, and Russian presence was sparse. Not much of a rock solid dominion over the land. The developments in France were also only just beginning.

Though I hadn't taken in consideration Vancouver's poor standing in the London political arena, because I don't know much about it.

It is in his Wikipedia entry. Also, Russia was the best ally the Empire had in the Wars of the French Revolution as well as the Napoleonic Wars. Prince Alexis was the LAST person the British would be looking to piss off over what was seen at the time as a bunch of worthless forests and tundra on the other side of the world. And as you say, there have been Russian settlements in Alaska for a full generation. They represent Imperial Russia's ONLY foothold in the New World, so it is a considerable point of pride for them.:cool:
 
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