Intrests in North America

     There were several countries interested in North America. The first of these was Spain. Spain had three main reasons to explore North America. According to Washington: A State of Contrasts, a book by Dale Lambert, the first thing was they wanted the western entrance to the northwest passage. With the northwest passage explored, they wold be able to have much faster trade in the northern hemisphere.  Their second interest was control of the Native Americans. Their final interest was gold and silver, according to Washington: A State of Contrasts by Dale Lambert.
    The next country interested in North America was Great Britain. They wanted only one main thing, and that was the northwest passage. If they could find it, it would give their navy a foothold in the area, and from there they could safely trade without Spain attacking them.
    The next country interested was Russia. According to Washington: A State of Contrasts, a book by Dale Lambert, Russians were interested in discovering the Bering Straight, claiming Alaska,establishing trapping and trading posts, and exploring islands north of the Queen Charlotte Islands.

William Clark picture via Wikipedia

The last country to explore this area was the U.S.  The U.S. was interested in establishing a claim in the area. They did this through the Lewis and Clark expedition, and Captain Robert Grays expedition.