The
Oregon boundary dispute, or the
Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing
British and
American claims to the
Pacific Northwest of
North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region as well as residual claims from treaties with Russia and Spain.
The British knew the region as the
Columbia District, a fur-trading division of the
Hudson's Bay Company, while Americans referred to it as the
Oregon Country. The broadest definition of the disputed region was defined by the following: west of the
Continental Divide of the Americas, north of the
42nd parallel north, and south of the
parallel 54°40′ north.