The United States and Great Britain established in 1818 joint claim over the Oregon Territory - the region north of Spanish controlled Upper California up to the southern boundary of Russia's Alaska Territory at North latitude 54°40'. By the late 1830's this arrangement was beginning to fall apart. In the 1840's the expansionist Democrats, including their 1844 presidential candidate, James Polk, claimed the entire region for the United States. Their expansionist desires were expressed by Polk's famous campaign slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" The slogan also became a rally cry for Americans desiring to settle the territory. Following Polk's election, the dispute was resolved by the 1846 Treaty of Oregon, which struck a compromise that fixed the U.S./Canadian boundary at 49º North.

Very uncommon Spanish map of the continent. The United States is particularly interesting in the Pacific Northwest, depicting an apparent compromise between the conflicting British and American claims in the region by showing the U.S. claims to British Columbia in the Rocky Mountain region, and British claims to include all of Puget Sound. An interesting system of mountain ranges dominates the interior of the United States. Alaska is America Rusa with a unique northern border that was truncated to allow for a conjectural L. Velasco and a large Polar Sea. Mexico through Central America is labeled Virreinato de Mejico. This uncommon Spanish map was published in the atlas to accompany J. Torner's Diccionario Geografico Universal....

References: Phillips (Atlases) #4318-40.

Condition: A

A crisp impression on a bright sheet with marginal soiling.