Page 51 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

37.

very profitable. With little military power to enforce res­

trictions on fur trading and with virtually no support from

the residents, Spanish authorities became increasingly lax in
46
keeping American vessels out of California harbors.

Although never equal to the Northwest fur trade,

American trade in California furs grew very quickly after

1
1800. This trade expanded even more in the 1820 s. In 1822
California, along with the rest of Mexico and other colonies

in South America, achieved independence from the Spanish Em­

pire. The newly-opened ports of Mexican California now legally

welcomed foreign trade. Coincidental to this new growth in

the California fur trade was the diminishing fur trade on the

1
Northwest Coast. In the 1820 s California began to replace the
Northwest Coas� in the great circular Canton trade route of the

. 47
American mere an
h t s.
1
Throughout the 1820 s the chief articles in the Calif­

ornia trade continued to be sea otter pelts. Gradually other
articles assumed importance, as more vessels visited Calif­

1
ornia s shores. These ships now included stops at various

ports in South America and the Sandwich Islands, besides Can­

1
ton and the United States. In the late 1820 s the China trade
experienced changes that were reflected in the increasing

variety of imports and exports in the trade. American vessels

in California not only took on board sea otter skins but also

included in their cargoes hides, tallow and soap from the

46
shaler, "Journal of a Voyage between China and the
Northwest Coast, " p. 153.

47
Bradley, American Frontier in Hawaii, pp. 18-19.