Both sides gained and lost some territory by this convention, but the United States gained more than it lost, in particular securing title to the Red River Basin. This convention established the boundary only between the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains ; west of the Rockies, the convention established joint occupation of the Oregon Country by both parties. A geographical oversight resulted in the creation of the Northwest Angle. Their sovereignty was gradually ceded by conquest and treaty during the several decades that followed.
Among these nations, the 49th parallel was nicknamed the Medicine Line because of its seemingly magical ability to prevent U. In the U. This had the side-effect of isolating Washington. Although parts of Vancouver Island and parts of Eastern Canada are located south of the 49th parallel, and parts of the United States Alaska, Northwest Angle are located north of it, the term 49th parallel is sometimes used as a nickname for the entire Canada-U.
The three Maritime provinces are each located entirely south of the parallel; however, the vast majority of Canadian territory lies north of the 49th parallel. Parts of the 49th parallel were originally surveyed using astronomical techniques that did not take into account slight departures of the Earth's shape from a simple ellipsoid , or the deflection of the plumb-bob by differences in terrestrial mass and although the surveys were subject to the limitations of early to mid 19th-century technology, extremely accurate results were obtained.
However, in some places the surveyed 49th parallel is as much as several hundred feet from the actual geographical 49th parallel for the currently adopted datum , WGS The treaty language specified that the degree line would extend only "to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel; and of Fuca's Straits to the Pacific Ocean" Johansen and Gates, In other words, the border would curve around the southern end of Vancouver Island.
The final treaty was signed on June 15, , and ratified on June 19, The treaty proved to be a long-term peaceful solution to this contentious issue, yet it had two unforeseen consequences. The language specifying "the middle of the channel" around Vancouver Island proved to be too vague. There were, in fact, several channels separating Vancouver Island from the continent, with numerous islands, including the San Juan Islands, scattered in the way. Both countries came to believe that they had rights to the San Juan Islands.
This later resulted in the seriocomic San Juan Islands Pig War in and an armed standoff between the two countries that lasted until , when the U. The second consequence arose from the fact that the 49th parallel cuts the Columbia River in two. The first miles of river are in Canada, the final miles in the U.
With the coming of dams on the Columbia beginning in the s, this became an increasingly important issue. In , Canada and the U. Dorothy O. Johansen and Charles M. Surveying mistakes led to an anomaly that still exists, the Northwest Angle. Thousands of Americans had stakes in the region, and the U. President James K. Polk demanded that U. In the end, the U. Spats over small areas would continue for decades. Based upon a drive for self-determination from the Canadian provinces, and a desire from Britain for Canada to defend itself against American encroachment, this process was peaceful and did not lead to a military dispute as seen in America's War of Independence.
The first Canadian prime minister Sir John A. MacDonald drives the creation of a transcontinental railroad in order to allow quick movements of troops to the western territories of Canada in case of American expansion. One of its responsibilities is maintenance of the Peace Arch, which was built on the exact line between the two nations, in Washington State in the U.
On the U. The U. There is also the matter of the Northwest Passage, which Canada says is hers but the U.
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