Spanish policy towards the Russian occupation of the North American continent in the eighteenth century

Abstract

The Russian discoveries in the Bering Strait, from the Kamchatka Peninsula, concerned the Spanish government, which from the beginning of the 18th century sought to establish a fruitful commercial, and also political, relationship with the Moscow government. It has been considered that the Russian Empire in the second half of the eighteenth century, represented a military threat to the Spanish possessions in North America. Confidential reports from the Spanish government qualify this military threat. Archival sources of the Spanish government have been used for the investigation, some of a confidential nature, with some encrypted letters to ensure the confidentiality of the message.