The Nootka Crisis is an international incident and political dispute between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain, triggered by a series of events that takes place during the summer of 1789 at Nootka Sound.

Nootka Sound is a network of inlets on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, now part of the Canadian province of British Columbia and the territory of the Mowachaht group of the Nuu-chah-nulth indigenous people.The crisis revolves around larger issues about sovereignty claims and rights of navigation and trade.

Between 1774 and 1789, Spain sends several expeditions to the Pacific Northwest to reassert its long-held navigation and territorial claims to the area.

By 1776, these expeditions have reached Bucareli Bay, including the mouth of the Columbia River and Sitka Sound.

Territorial rights are asserted according to acts of sovereignty customary of the time.

Some years later, several British fur trading vessels enter the area which Spain has laid claim to.

A complex series of events lead to these British vessels being seized by the Spanish Navy at Nootka Sound.

When the news reaches Europe, Britain requests compensation and the Spanish government refuses.

Both sides prepare for war and seek assistance from allies.

The crisis is resolved peacefully but with difficulty through a set of three agreements, known collectively as the Nootka Conventions.

Spain agrees to share some rights to settle along the Pacific coast but keeps its main Pacific claims.

The outcome is considered a victory for mercantile interests of Britain and opensthe way to certain British expansion in the Pacific.

However, Spain continues to colonize and settle the Pacific coast, especially present-day California, until 1821.The events at Nootka Sound, apart from the larger international crisis, are sometimes called the Nootka Incident, the Nootka Sound Incident, and similar terms.

The larger Nootka Crisis is known variously by names such as the Nootka Sound Crisis, the Nootka Sound Controversy, the Great Spanish Armament, and other variations.