The area around the American border and in the western prairies had only been known by the few small Indigenous communities that lived there and the few British fur traders and missionaries, who themselves did not know much about the land. Some of the fur traders and explorers who had been through the area had collected and recorded information and maps; however, this information was not easily accessible to everyone. In order to support the claims and promises of the expansionists that the west held, promising land needed to be found. Palliser and Hind’s expeditions were results of this increasing pressure to learn more about the west from the British government. Both the Canadian and British governments’ interest in western Canada and some of these possible opportunities of the land were responsible for their investment and involvement in further research and expeditions.