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Huge deposits of gold in California were discovered immediately after it was incorporated into the U.S. following the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The northern region of New Spain in the colonial era was considered marginal to Spanish interests compared to the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America in the eighteenth century as other powers encroached on its claims, the crown sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest,

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