Pinnacles National Park
Pinnacles is managed by the National Park Service and the majority of the park is protected as wilderness. The national park is divided by the formations into East and West Divisions, connected by foot trails. The east side has shade and water, the west has high walls, the rock formations provide for spectacular pinnacles that attract rock climbers. The park features unusual talus caves that house at least thirteen species of bat, Pinnacles is most often visited in spring or fall because of the intense heat during the summer months. Park lands are prime habitat for prairie falcons, and are a site for California condors that have been hatched in captivity. Pinnacles National Monument was established in 1908 by U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt, Pinnacles National Park was created from the former Pinnacles National Monument by legislation passed by Congress in late 2012 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 10,2013. Native Americans in the Pinnacles region comprised the Chalon and Mutsun groups of the Ohlone people and these native people declined with the arrival of the Spanish in the 18th century, who brought novel diseases and changes to the natives way of life.
The last Chalon had died or departed from the area by 1810, from 1810 to 1865, when the first Anglo-American settlers arrived, the Pinnacles region was a wilderness without human use or habitation. The establishment of a Spanish mission at Soledad hastened the areas native depopulation through disease, archaeological surveys have found thirteen sites inhabited by Native Americans, twelve of which post-date the establishment of the missions. One site is believed to be about 2000 years old, by the 1880s the Pinnacles, known as the Palisades, were visited by picnickers from the surrounding communities who would explore the caves and camp. The first account of the Pinnacles region appeared in print in 1881, between 1889 and 1891, newspaper articles shifted from describing excursions to the Palisades to calling them the Pinnacles. Interest in the rose to the point that the Hollister Free Lance sent a reporter to the Pinnacles. Investors came from San Francisco to consider placing a hotel there. In 1894 a post office was established in Bear Valley, since there was at least one other Bear Valley in California, the post office was named Cook after Mrs.
Hains maiden name. In 1924 the post office was renamed Pinnacles, Schuyler Hain was a homesteader who arrived in the Pinnacles area in 1891 from Michigan, following his parents and eight siblings to Bear Valley. White, was a student at Stanford University, and White brought one of his professors to see the Pinnacles in 1893, dr. Gilbert was impressed by the scenery, and his comments inspired Hain to publicize the region. Hain led tours to Bear Valley and through the caves, advocating the preservation of the Pinnacles, Hains efforts resulted in a 1904 visit by Stanford president David Starr Jordan, who contacted Fresno Congressman James C. Jordan and Needham in turn influenced Gifford Pinchot to advocate the establishment of the Pinnacles Forest Reserve to President Theodore Roosevelt, Roosevelt proclaimed the establishment on July 8,1906
Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, Mendocino County comprises the Ukiah, CA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is located north of the San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley, the county is noted for its distinctive Pacific Ocean coastline, Redwood forests, wine production and liberal views about the use of cannabis and support for its legalization. It is estimated that roughly one-third of the economy is based on the cultivation of marijuana, the notable historic and recreational attraction of the Skunk Train connects Fort Bragg with Willits in Mendocino County via a steam-locomotive engine, along with other vehicles. Mendocino County was one of the counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Due to an initially minor white American population, it did not have a government until 1859 and was under the administration of Sonoma County prior to that. Some of the land was given to Sonoma County between 1850 and 1860.
Mendocino is the form of the family name of Mendoza. Establishment of the Round Valley Indian Reservation in March 30,1870, many of these tribes thrown together were not friends with the other tribes they were forced to live with on the reservation, resulting in tensions still evident today. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 3,878 square miles. The 2010 United States Census reported that Mendocino County had a population of 87,841. The racial makeup of Mendocino County was 67,218 White,622 African American,4,277 Native American,1,450 Asian,119 Pacific Islander,10,185 from other races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19,505 persons. As of the census of 2000, there were 86,265 people,33,266 households, the population density was 25 people per square mile. There were 36,937 housing units at a density of 10 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 80. 8% White,0. 6% Black or African American,4. 8% Native American,1. 2% Asian,0. 2% Pacific Islander,8. 6% from other races, and 3. 9% from two or more races. 16.
5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,12. 2% were of German,10. 8% English,8. 6% Irish,6. 1% Italian and 5. 6% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 84. 4% spoke English and 13. 2% Spanish as their first language,27. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the family size was 3.04
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D. C. that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The organization is governed by a board of trustees and led by current president, the National Trust presently has around 750,000 members and supporters. The National Trust issues the quarterly Preservation magazine and produces the PreservationNation blog, towards the end of the 19th century, as the United States was rebuilding after the Civil War, the country was beginning to form its sense of national identity and history. The government began to enact legislation for the preservation of sites, in 1872, an Act of Congress established the first National Park, Yellowstone. In 1906, the Antiquities Act enabled the President to declare landmarks or objects as a national monument, in 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act which outlined programs for research and inventory of historic sites. Meanwhile, historic preservation initiatives existed on local and state levels, in 1931, the first historic district was created in Charleston, South Carolina.
However, efforts to save and maintain historic sites were largely limited to private citizens or local groups. In the late 1940s, leaders in American historic preservation saw the need for an organization to support local preservation efforts. In 1946, David E. Finley, Jr. George McAneny, Christopher Crittenden, the meeting’s attendants became the first charter members of the Council. The organization’s first headquarters was in the offices of Ford’s Theatre in downtown Washington, the creation of the National Trust was proposed as a bill to Congress, H. R.5170, introduced by Congressman J. Hardin Peterson of Florida and passed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation was formally established through the Act of Congress when President Harry S. Truman signed the legislation on October 26,1949. The charter provided that the Trust should acquire and preserve historic sites and objects of national significance, Finley served as the National Trusts first chairman of the board, remaining in the position for 12 years.
The National Trust and the National Council existed side by side for years until the need to merge resources compelled the Executive Committee to integrate the two entities. In 1952, the boards of organizations approved a merger of the Council into the National Trust. The merger was effective the following year and was completed by 1956, the National Trust became a membership organization and assumed all other functions of the National Council. In 1957, the National Trust officially acquired its first property, over the next decade, the National Trust grew to become the leading national organization in historic preservation. They began working with citizens and city planning officials on matters, including federal, state. National Trust staff traveled to parts of the country to advise local communities on preservation projects, in 1966, Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act, a significant legislation for the preservation movement
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a national park spanning portions of Tuolumne and Madera counties in Northern California. The park, which is managed by the National Park Service, on average, about 4 million people visit Yosemite each year, and most spend the majority of their time in the seven square miles of Yosemite Valley. The park set a record in 2016, surpassing 5 million visitors for the first time in its history. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness, Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea. First, Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has a range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet and contains five major vegetation zones, chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone. Of Californias 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada, there is suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.
The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks, about 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, about one million years ago and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet during the early glacial episode, the downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today. The name Yosemite originally referred to the name of a tribe which was driven out of the area by the Mariposa Battalion. Before the area was called Ahwahnee by indigenous people, as revealed by archeological finds, the Yosemite Valley has been inhabited for nearly 3,000 years, though humans may have first visited the area as long as 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.
The indigenous natives called themselves the Ahwahneechee, meaning dwellers in Ahwahnee and they are related to the Northern Paiute and Mono tribes. Many tribes visited the area to trade, including nearby Central Sierra Miwoks, a major trading route went over Mono Pass and through Bloody Canyon to Mono Lake, just to the east of the Yosemite area. Vegetation and game in the region were similar to that present today, acorns were a staple to their diet, as well as seeds and plants, salmon. In 1851 as part of the Mariposa Wars intended to suppress Native American resistance and he was pursuing forces of around 200 Ahwahneechee led by Chief Tenaya. Accounts from this battalion were the first well-documented reports of ethnic Europeans entering Yosemite Valley, attached to Savages unit was Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, the company physician, who wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley in The Discovery of the Yosemite. Bunnell is credited with naming Yosemite Valley, based on his interviews with Chief Tenaya, Bunnell wrote that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Pai-Ute Colony of Ah-wah-nee
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the countrys seven uniformed services. This has happened twice, in 1917, during World War I, created by Congress on 4 August 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine, it is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton headed the Revenue Marine, by the 1860s, the service was known as the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service and the term Revenue Marine gradually fell into disuse, the modern Coast Guard was formed by a merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U. S. Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915, under the U. S. Department of the Treasury. As one of the five armed services, the Coast Guard has been involved in every U. S. war from 1790 to the Iraq War. As of 2014 the Coast Guard had over 36,000 men and women on duty,7,350 reservists,29,620 auxiliarists. In terms of size, the U. S. Coast Guard by itself is the worlds 12th largest naval force.
Because of its authority, the Coast Guard can conduct military operations under the U. S. Department of Defense or directly for the President in accordance with Title 14 USC 1–3. The Coast Guards enduring roles are maritime safety, security, to carry out those roles, it has 11 statutory missions as defined in 6 U. S. C. §468, which include enforcing U. S. law in the worlds largest exclusive economic zone of 3.4 million square miles, the Coast Guards motto is the Latin phrase, Semper Paratus. In a 2005 article in Time magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, the Coast Guards most valuable contribution to may be as a model of flexibility, and most of all, spirit. Wil Milam, a swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, In the Navy. Practicing for war, training for war, in the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself. The Coast Guard carries out three basic roles, which are subdivided into eleven statutory missions. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, and have responsibility for military and civilian search and rescue.
The two services jointly provide instructor staff for the National Search and Rescue School that trains SAR mission planners and coordinators, previously located on Governors Island, New York, the school is now located at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown at Yorktown, Virginia. The NRC takes Maritime Suspicious Activity and Security Breach Reports, details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement database system is managed and used by the Coast Guard for tracking pollution, the five uniformed services that make up the U. S
Sequoia sempervirens /sᵻˈkɔɪ. ə sɛmpərˈvaɪrənz/ is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood and it is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1, 200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height and these trees are among the oldest living things on Earth. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article, and not to the other two species. Scottish botanist David Don described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lamberts 1824 work A description of the genus Pinus, austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus Sequoia in his 1847 work Synopsis coniferarum, giving the redwood its current binomial name of Sequoia sempervirens.
The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily Sequoioideae, molecular studies have shown the three to be each others closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia as each others closest relatives. However and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood, further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that Sequoia was the result of a hybridization event involving Metasequoia and Sequoiadendron. Thus and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among Metasequoia, the coast redwood can reach 115 m tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m. It has a crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The bark can be thick, up to 1-foot, and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed. The root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots, the leaves are variable, being 15–25 mm long and flat on young trees and shaded shoots in the lower crown of old trees. On the other hand, they are scale-like, 5–10 mm long on shoots in full sun in the crown of older trees.
They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below, leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant, the seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 millimetres long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales, pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 millimetres long and 0.5 millimetres broad, the seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and 4–6 millimetres long and its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a hexaploid and possibly allopolyploid. Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited, the prevailing elevation range is 98–2,460 ft above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to 3,000 ft. They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater, the tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. In forestry, the logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest. However, in usage, the term may be used to indicate a range of forestry or silviculture activities. Illegal logging refers to what in forestry might be called timber theft by the timber mafia and it can refer to the harvesting, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. Clearcut logging is not necessarily considered a type of logging but a harvesting or silviculture method, in the forest products industry logging companies may be referred to as logging contractors, with the smaller, non-union crews referred to as gyppo loggers. Cutting trees with the highest value and leaving those with lower value and it is sometimes called selective logging, and confused with selection cutting, the practice of managing stands by harvesting a proportion of trees.
Logging usually refers to above-ground forestry logging, submerged forests exist on land that has been flooded by damming to create reservoirs. Such trees are logged using underwater logging or by the lowering of the reservoirs in question, ootsa Lake and Williston Lake in British Columbia, Canada are notable examples where timber recovery has been needed to remove inundated forests. Clearcutting, or clearfelling, is a method of harvesting that removes all the standing trees in a selected area. Silviculture objectives for clearcutting, and a focus on forestry distinguish it from deforestation, other methods include shelterwood cutting, group selective, single selective, seed-tree cutting, patch cut, and retention cutting. The above operations can be carried out by different methods, of which the three are considered industrial methods, Trees are felled and delimbed and topped at the stump. The log is transported to the landing, where it is bucked and loaded on a truck and this leaves the slash in the cut area, where it must be further treated if wild land fires are of concern.
This ability is due to the advancement in the style felling head that can be used, the trees are delimbed and bucked at the landing. This method requires that slash be treated at the landing, in areas with access to cogeneration facilities, the slash can be chipped and used for the production of electricity or heat. Full-tree harvesting refers to utilization of the tree including branches. Cut-to-length logging is the process of felling, bucking, harvesters fell the tree and buck it, and place the resulting logs in bunks to be brought to the landing by a skidder or forwarder. This method is available for trees up to 900 mm in diameter. Harvesters are employed effectively in level to steep terrain
The rainbow trout is a trout and species of salmonid native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout that usually returns to fresh water to spawn after living two to three years in the ocean. Freshwater forms that have been introduced into the Great Lakes and migrate into tributaries to spawn are called steelhead, adult freshwater stream rainbow trout average between 1 and 5 lb, while lake-dwelling and anadromous forms may reach 20 lb. Coloration varies widely based on subspecies and habitat, adult fish are distinguished by a broad reddish stripe along the lateral line, from gills to the tail, which is most vivid in breeding males. Wild-caught and hatchery-reared forms of species have been transplanted and introduced for food or sport in at least 45 countries. Introductions to locations outside their range in the United States, Southern Europe, New Zealand. Some local populations of subspecies, or in the case of steelhead.
The steelhead is the state fish of Washington. The scientific name of the trout is Oncorhynchus mykiss. The species was named by German naturalist and taxonomist Johann Julius Walbaum in 1792 based on type specimens from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia. Walbaums original species name, was derived from the local Kamchatkan name used for the fish, the name of the genus is from the Greek onkos and rynchos, in reference to the hooked jaws of males in the mating season. In 1855, William P. Gibbons, the curator of Geology and Mineralogy at the California Academy of Sciences, found a population and named it Salmo iridia and these names faded once it was determined that Walbaums description of type specimens was conspecific and therefore had precedence. Thus, in 1989, taxonomic authorities moved the rainbow, Walbaums name had precedence, so the species name Oncorhynchus mykiss became the scientific name of the rainbow trout. The previous species names irideus and gairdneri were adopted as subspecies names for the rainbow and Columbia River redband trout.
Anadromous forms of the rainbow trout or redband trout are commonly known as steelhead. Subspecies of Oncorhynchus mykiss are listed below as described by fisheries biologist Robert J. Behnke, resident freshwater rainbow trout adults average between 1 and 5 lb in riverine environments, while lake-dwelling and anadromous forms may reach 20 lb. Coloration varies widely between regions and subspecies, adult freshwater forms are generally blue-green or olive green with heavy black spotting over the length of the body. Adult fish have a reddish stripe along the lateral line, from gills to the tail
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use state as a political subdivision. State parks are established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U. S. state, some of the Mexican states, the term is used in the Australian state of Victoria. The equivalent term used in Canada, South Africa, similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies. State parks are thus similar to parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, in general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. As of 2014, there were 10,234 state park units in the United States, there are some 739 million annual visits to the countrys state parks.
The NASPD further counts over 43,000 miles of trail,217,367 campsites, many states include designations beyond state park in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state recreation areas, state beaches, some state park systems include long-distance trails and historic sites. The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by Niagara Falls State Park in New York, however several public parks previously or currently maintained at the state level pre-date it. Indian Springs State Park has been operated continuously by the state of Georgia as a park since 1825. In 1864 Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were ceded by the government to California until Yosemite National Park was proclaimed in 1890. In 1878 Wisconsin set aside a vast swath of its forests as The State Park but, needing money. The first state park with the designation of state park was Mackinac Island State Park in 1895, list of U. S. state parks National Association of State Park Directors Wilderness preservation systems in the United States Ahlgren, Carol.
The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development, the State Park Movement in America, A Critical Review excerpt and text search Larson, Zeb. Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement, oregon Historical Quarterly 112#1 pp, 34-57 in JSTOR Newton, Norman T. When Forests Trumped Parks, The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950, Maryland Historical Magazine 101#2 pp, 203-224
Great blue heron
It is a rare vagrant to coastal Spain, the Azores, and areas of far southern Europe. An all-white population found only in the Caribbean and Florida was once treated as a separate species, the great blue heron was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae. The scientific name comes from Latin ardea, and Ancient Greek erodios and it forms a superspecies with this and with the cocoi heron from South America, which differs in having more extensive black on the head, and a white breast and neck. It has head-to-tail length of 91–137 cm, a wingspan of 167–201 cm, a height of 115–138 cm, in British Columbia, adult males averaged 2.48 kg and adult females 2.11 kg. The feathers on the neck are long and plume-like, it has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the pattern is only weakly defined, they have no plumes.
Among standard measurements, the chord is 43–49.2 cm, the tail is 15. 2–19.5 cm, the culmen is 12. 3–15.2 cm. The herons stride is around 22 cm, almost in a straight line, two of the three front toes are generally closer together. In a track, the front toes, as well as the back, the subspecies differ only slightly in size and plumage tone, with the exception of subspecies A. h. occidentalis, which has a distinct white morph, known as the great white heron. It is found only in south Florida and some parts of the Caribbean, the great white heron differs from other great blues in bill morphology, head plume length, and in having a total lack of pigment in its plumage. It averages somewhat larger than the sympatric race A. h. wardi and may be the largest race in the species. In a survey of A. h. occidentalis in Florida, males were found to average 3.02 kg and females average 2.57 kg and this is mainly found near salt water, and was long thought to be a separate species. Birds intermediate between the normal morph and the white morph are known as Würdemanns heron, these birds resemble a normal great blue with a white head.
The theory that great white herons may be a species from great blue heron has again been given some support by David Sibley. The great white heron could be confused with great egret, but is larger, the reddish egret and little blue heron could be mistaken for the great blue heron, but are much smaller, and lack white on the head and yellow in the bill. In the southern reaches of its range, the great blue sometimes overlaps in range with the closely related, the cocoi is distinguished by a striking white neck and solid black crown, but the duller juveniles are more easily confused. More superficially similar is the slightly smaller grey heron, which may sometimes vagrate to the coasts of North America
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims.
In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands.
The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794.
It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska and the Philippines, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations