The elusive West and the contest for empire, 1713-1763 /Paul W. Mapp.

Includes bibliographies and index.

The Spanish empire and the elusive West. Peoples and terrain, difficulties and disappointments -- Exploiting indigenous geographic understanding -- South sea interlude. The alluring Pacific ocean -- The Pacific ocean and the war of the Spanish succession -- France and the elusive West after the treaty of Utrecht. Visions of Western Louisiana -- Imperial comparisons -- Communication and interpretation -- Restricted pathways -- British Pacific adventures and the early years of the seven years' war. British designs on the Spanish empire, 1713-1748 -- French reactions to the British search for a northwest passage from Hudson Bay and the origins of the seven years' war -- Spanish reactions to British Pacific encroachments, 1750-1757 -- French borderlands encroachments and Spanish neutrality -- The elusive West and the outcome of the seven years' war -- French geographic conceptions and the 1762 Western Louisiana cession -- Spain's acceptance of Trans-Mississippi Louisiana -- Old visions and new opportunities: Britain and the Spanish empire at the end of the seven years' war.

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This is a truly continental history in both its geographic and political scope. The book investigates 18th-century diplomacy involving North America and links geographic ignorance about the American West to Europeans' grand geopolitical designs.