Between the end of the 15th century and the 20th century, colonial powers from Europe dispatched explorers to discover a commercial sea route north and west around North America. The Northwest Passage represented a new route to the established trading nations of Asia. England called the hypothetical northern route the "Northwest Passage".

Feb 22, 2018 · European explorers first began to search for the Northwest Passage in the fifteenth century, but treacherous conditions and sea ice cover made the route impassible, foiling many expeditions....

Dec 6, 2024 · Northwest Passage, historical sea passage of the North American continent. It represents centuries of effort to find a route westward from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Archipelago of what became Canada. Learn more about the Northwest Passage in this article.

Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and to record magnetic data to help determine whether a...

Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure (1807-1873), an Irish naval officer, was the first explorer to complete the crossing of the Northwest Passage, doing so in 1850. For 450 years a history described by self-sacrifice, tireless curiosity, the wealth of the fur trade, and personal tragedy lured men to find what some had called the mythical waterway.

The Northwest Passage is one of Canada’s most exciting chapters of discovery, history and exploration. Let's dive into its thrilling history and look at some of the most famous names in Arctic exploration.

For over 400 years explorers risked their lives to search the Arctic for a northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Explorers searching for the Passage were hoping to establish a lucrative trading route between Europe and Asia.

President Thomas Jefferson believed the discovery of the 'Northwest Passage' would bring great wealth and new trade opportunities to the United States of America. The term 'Northwest Passage' was coined by Richard Hakluyt who published Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage in 1587.

Finding a the Northwest Passage was a 400-year obsession for sea-faring nations. It was well understood that trade with China, then most often called Cathay, was a source of tremendous wealth. But after the Turks took command of the East, sea powers like England, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands had no easy access to the Far East.

May 29, 2018 · The Northwest Passage is the circuitous sea passage, long sought by explorers, between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Though it was eventually found through a series of discoveries, it was not completely navigated until Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872 – 1928) explored it between 1903 and 1906.