Editing Rocky Mountains (section)

===European exploration===
Recent human history of the Rocky Mountains is one of more rapid change. The Spanish explorer [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]]—with a group of soldiers and missionaries marched into the Rocky Mountain region from the south in 1540.<ref name="PBS2001">{{cite web | title = Events in the West (1528–1536) | website = [[PBS]] | year = 2001 | url = https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1500_1650.htm | access-date = April 15, 2012 | url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120410221051/http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1500_1650.htm | archive-date = April 10, 2012 }}</ref> In 1610, the Spanish founded the city of [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], the oldest continuous seat of government in the United States, at the foot of the Rockies in present-day New Mexico. The introduction of the horse, metal tools, rifles, new diseases, and different cultures profoundly changed the Native American cultures. Native American populations were extirpated from most of their historical ranges by disease, warfare, habitat loss (eradication of the bison), and continued assaults on their culture.<ref name="USGS" />

In 1739, French [[fur trade]]rs Pierre and Paul Mallet, while journeying through the Great Plains, discovered a range of mountains at the headwaters of the [[Platte River]], which local [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] tribes called the "Rockies", becoming the first Europeans to report on this uncharted mountain range.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1650_1800.htm|title=The West: Events from 1650 to 1800|publisher=PBS|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110706033001/https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/events/1650_1800.htm|archive-date=July 6, 2011}}</ref>
[[File:Alexander MacKenzie by Thomas Lawrence (c.1800).jpg|thumb|upright|Sir Alexander Mackenzie in 1800]]

[[Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)|Sir Alexander Mackenzie]] (1764 – March 11, 1820) became the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1793.<ref name="PrincetonNWPass">{{cite web | title = Mackenzie: 1789, 1792–1797 | url = http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/mackenzie.htm | access-date = April 15, 2012 | url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130117093541/http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/northwest-passage/mackenzie.htm | archive-date = January 17, 2013 }}</ref> He found the upper reaches of the Fraser River and reached the Pacific coast of what is now Canada on July 20 of that year, completing the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico.<ref name="CAHistPlace">{{cite web | title = First Crossing of North America National Historic Site of Canada | url = http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=14662&pid=0 | access-date = April 15, 2012 | url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120512165546/http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=14662&pid=0 | archive-date = May 12, 2012 }}</ref> He arrived at [[Bella Coola, British Columbia]], where he first reached saltwater at South Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean.

The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] (1804–1806) was the first scientific reconnaissance of the Rocky Mountains.<ref name="NPSScientificEncounters">{{cite web | title = Lewis and Clark Expedition: Scientific Encounters | url = http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/encounters.htm | access-date = April 15, 2012 | url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120409015017/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/lewisandclark/encounters.htm | archive-date = April 9, 2012 }}</ref> Specimens were collected for contemporary botanists, zoologists, and geologists. The expedition was said to have paved the way to (and through) the Rocky Mountains for European-Americans from the East, although Lewis and Clark met at least 11 European-American mountain men during their travels.<ref name="USGS" />

[[Mountain man|Mountain men]], primarily French, Spanish, and British, roamed the Rocky Mountains from 1720 to 1800 seeking mineral deposits and furs.<!--"mountain men" seems US-language here; were these what Canadians think of as "voyageurs" and "fur traders"?--> The fur-trading [[North West Company]] established [[Rocky Mountain House]] as a trading post in what is now the [[Rocky Mountain Foothills]] of present-day [[Alberta]] in 1799, and their business rivals the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] established Acton House nearby.<ref name=PC2012>{{cite web | title = Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site of Canada | date = February 28, 2012 | url = http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ab/rockymountain/index.aspx | access-date = April 15, 2012 | url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120513122427/http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ab/rockymountain/index.aspx | archive-date = May 13, 2012 }}</ref> These posts served as bases for most European activity in the Canadian Rockies in the early 19th century. Among the most notable are the expeditions of [[David Thompson (explorer)|David Thompson]], who followed the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.<ref name = "nwda2006">{{cite web | title = Guide to the David Thompson Papers 1806–1845 | year = 2006 | url = http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv07195 | access-date = April 15, 2012}}</ref> On his 1811 expedition, he camped at the junction of the Columbia River and the Snake River and erected a pole and notice claiming the area for the United Kingdom and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a fort at the site.<ref name="Oldham2003">{{cite web | title = David Thompson plants the British flag at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers on July 9, 1811| last = Oldham | first = kit | date = January 23, 2003 | url = http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5096 | access-date = April 15, 2012 | url-status=live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120326165320/http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5096 | archive-date = March 26, 2012 }}</ref>

By the [[Anglo-American Convention of 1818]], which established the [[49th parallel north]] as the international boundary west from [[Lake of the Woods]] to the "Stony Mountains",<ref name="USDS2007">{{cite web | title = Treaties in Force | date = November 1, 2007 | url = https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/83046.pdf | access-date = April 15, 2012 }}</ref> the UK and the US agreed to what has since been described as "joint occupancy" of lands further west to the Pacific Ocean. Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues, the [[Oregon dispute]], was deferred until a later time.

In 1819, Spain ceded their rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States, though these rights did not include possession and also included obligations to Britain and Russia concerning their claims in the same region.