Research Guides
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Many explorers, both American and European, spent the 18th and 19th centuries exploring the Pacific Northwest. UW Special Collections in particular has many resources on George Vancouver, who explored Puget Sound in 1792; Lt. Charles Wilkes, who led the first U.S. Navy expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean in 1838; and Lewis and Clark, whose 1805 trek through the Louisiana Purchase ended in Washington and Oregon.