Between 1500 and 1800 Europeans started colonies all over the east coast of North America, and both sides of South America, so why didn't they seem interested in what is now the west coast of Canada and the U.S. until James Cook in the 1770s? I know, Francis Drake and others did travel there, but you don't see Europeans building colonies anywhere north of southern California during this period. Was it because it was too hard to get there (no Panama Canal)? Did the area seem overcrowded with native Americans? Or was the geography less appealing than the east coast, with all the mountains and snow and such? I've been to B.C. and it seems like a pretty sweet place to settle if you ask me...