Abstract

DOMINGUEZ CRUZ, Mario Alejandro. Zebulon Montgomery Pike’s Expedition of the Year 1807 to the American West A Perspective Based on Novo-Hispanic Documents. Estud. hist. novohisp [online]. 2023, n.69, pp.41-69.  Epub Feb 27, 2024. ISSN 2448-6922.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24486922e.2023.69.77763.

The main objective of the present article is the historical analysis of the expedition of the American captain Zebulon Montgomery Pike, in 1807, to the northern part of New Spain -an episode which in Spanish historiography is little known. Despite how little development there has been regarding this subject on the Mexican side, this seems to be one of the first and most transcendental antecedents of North American expansionism north of the continent. For the purpose of this research, a review of American historiography on the subject was employed, in addition to primary Novo-Hispanic sources to provide a more integral perspective to what has already been developed by English speaking historians. Among the archives consulted on the Hispanic side are the following: Archivo General de la Nación, Archivo General de Indias, and local archives, such as the one from the city of Chihuahua. The conclusion of this research is that the trip of captain Zebulon Pike provided the Anglo-American merchants, explorers, and militia with strategic geographical information for the establishment of commercial routes and to start advancing and spreading to the west, after the purchase of Louisiana in 1803.

Keywords : expedition; American West; frontier; Louisiana; Chihuahua.

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