A height of land at New York Mills divides North America into vast drainage areas, with land on the left draining to the Gulf of Mexico and land on the right draining to Hudson Bay. For one and one-half centuries, this divide also marked the realms of nations seeking dominion over the continent's resources. The west side of town lay within Rupert's Land, granted by King Charles II in 1672 to governours and adventurers trading in Hudsons Baye. In 1818, the British relinquished the lands drained by the Red River of the North south of the forty-ninth parallel. The east side of town lay within Louisiana Territory, under Spanish and French monarchs from the sixteenth century until 1803, when Napoleon ceded it to the United States. Though political union did not occur, the people of North America are presented as sharing a union of spirit and ideology, shaped by immigrants from all corners of the world. The flags of discovery of England, France, and Spain, together with the American flag of expansion, symbolize the spirit of enterprise and freedom associated with explorers and settlers and now held in the hearts of North Americans.