Competition for sovereignty and trade drew Europeans to the Pacific Northwest coast in the 1780s. Although long known to First Nations people, the strait received its present name in 1788, when John Meares christened it for the Greek pilot who claimed to have ventured there in 1592. In 1792, Spanish and British expeditions entered the strait, circumnavigated Vancouver Island, and proved that this was not the Northwest Passage. Surveys from these voyages served the immediate territorial ambitions of rival European empires and provided a firm basis for later commercial ventures. *Note: This designation has been identified for review. A review can be triggered for one of the following reasons - outdated language or terminology, absence of a significant layer of history, factual errors, controversial beliefs and behaviour, or significant new knowledge.