Northwest Passage water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, and along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even though the explorers of the 16th cent. demonstrated that the American continents were a true barrier to a short route to East Asia, there still remained hope that a natural passage would be found leading directly through the barrier. During the same period, the idea of reaching China and India by sailing over the North Pole or by sailing through a passage north of Europe and Asia—the Northeast Passage —also became popular. The Northwest Passage, however, remained the most important goal, and the search for the passage continued even though at that time such a route had no commercial value.

Proof of the existence of the passage in the mid-1800s only revealed how difficult its transit would be, and it was not until the early 20th cent. that the first transit was accomplished. The first commercial ship to successfully transit the Northwest Passage was the SS Manhattan, an ice-breaking tanker, in 1969. In 1988 the United States, which contends that the passage is an international strait through which all navigation may pass unimpeded, and Canada, in whose sovereign waters that passage lies, agreed that U.S. icebreakers could cross its arctic waters, but only after approval on a case-by-case basis. Although the straits that form the passage have historically been ice-clogged year-round, by 2007 warming in the Arctic made the area almost ice-free in late summer.

The Search for a Passage

Sir Martin Frobisher, the English explorer, was the first European to explore (1576-78) the eastern approaches of the passage. John Davis also explored (1585-87) this area, and in 1610 Henry Hudson sailed north and visited Hudson Bay while seeking a short route to Asia. Soon afterward, William Baffin, an English explorer, visited (1616) Baffin Bay, through which the passage was finally found. English statesmen and merchants, anxious to have the passage found, encouraged exploration. Luke Fox and Thomas James made (1631-32) voyages into Hudson Bay.

Although one of the avowed goals of Hudson's Bay Company was to find the Northwest Passage, little was accomplished until a century after its charter, when Samuel Hearne, a British explorer with the company, went overland as far west as the Coppermine River (1771-72) and demonstrated that there was no short passage to the western sea. The British government offered prizes for achievements in northern exploration, and Captain James Cook was inspired to make the first attempt at navigating the passage from the west. He died before he could accomplish anything. The British, Spanish, and Americans, however, pushed explorations on the Pacific coast, and the explorations of the Russians about Kamchatka and Alaska, together with the voyages of Alexander Mackenzie, the Canadian explorer, and the expedition of the Americans Lewis and Clark, revealed the contours of the continental barrier.

Wars between Britain and France interrupted the search for the Northwest Passage, and when resumed after the wars the explorations were made in the interests of science, not commerce. The desire to extend human knowledge was the chief motive in arctic exploration after the expeditions of British explorers John Ross and David Buchan were sent out in 1818. Ross's later voyages, and those of Sir William Edward Parry, F. W. Beechey, Sir George Back, Thomas Simpson, and Sir John Franklin pushed forward the knowledge of the Arctic and of the Northwest Passage. The last tragic expedition of Franklin indirectly had more effect than any other voyage because of the many expeditions sent out to discover his fate. In his expedition (1850-54), Robert J. Le M. McClure penetrated the passage from the west along the northern coast of the continent and by a land expedition reached Viscount Melville Sound, which had been reached (1819-20) by Parry from the east.

The actual existence of the Northwest Passage had been proved, and the long search was over. It was many years, however, before a transit of the passage was made. This feat, which had been attempted by so many men, was first accomplished (1903-6) by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen . Interest in the Northwest Passage slackened until the 1960s, when oil was discovered in N Alaska and there was a desire for a short water route to transport oil to the east coast of the United States.

Bibliography

See R. J. McClure, The Discovery of the North-West Passage (1856, repr. 1969); B. Keating, The Northwest Passage (1970); A. E. Day, Search for the Northwest Passage (1986); F. Griffiths, ed., Politics of the Northwest Passage (1987); A. Savours, The Search for the Northwest Passage (1999); G. Williams, Voyages of Delusion (2003).

NORTHWEST PASSAGE

NORTHWEST PASSAGE. First navigated during a voyage from 1903 to 1906 by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in his ship, the Gjoa, the Northwest Passage is the sea route that links the North Atlantic Ocean with the North Pacific Ocean. It extends from Baffin Bay, which lies between West Greenland and Baffin Island, to the Bering Strait, which lies between Alaska and Siberia, through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Sixteenth-and seventeenth-century explorers hoped to find a shortcut around America to eastern Asia through a passage north of the American continent. However, the passage eluded discovery for centuries because of the intricate geography of the archipelago, along with the obstacle of constant polar ice in the sea.

By the mid-nineteenth century, it had been proven that a Northwest Passage existed, but that it would be very difficult to navigate. After his successful navigation, Amundsen graciously credited British seamen with making his accomplishment possible with their centuries of attempts to locate and navigate the passage, as well as their subsequent maps of the intricate Arctic geography. William Baffin discovered the eastern approach in 1616 in Baffin Bay, and Robert J. Le M. McClure located the passage from the west during a voyage from 1850 to 1854.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Savours, Ann. The Search for the North West Passage. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Mary AnneHansen

See alsoPolar Exploration .

NORTHWEST PASSAGE

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. Numerous navigators, convinced of the existence of such a passage, attempted to find it during the early years of European westward sea exploration. Though unsuccessful, their determination led to the discovery of other important locations. French sailor and explorer Jacques Cartier found the St. Lawrence River, dividing Canada and the United States, between 1534 and 1535. English commander Sir Martin Frobisher discovered Frobisher Bay off the coast of Baffin Island and north of Quebec in 1576. English navigator John Davis discovered Davis Strait between Baffin Island and Greenland in 1587. English navigator Henry Hudson found the Hudson River in eastern New York State, and Hudson Bay, the inland-sea of central Canada, between 1609 and 1611. Following centuries of efforts Amundsen finally completed the first successful navigation of the Northwest Passage in September 1906, during a journey that lasted more than three years. The hash climate, however, makes the route impractical for commercial navigation.

Northwest Passage Western route from the Atlantic to the Pacific via n Canada. Many European explorers in the 16th and 17th centuries tried to find a passage through North America to the Pacific. The effort was renewed in the 19th century. The expedition of Sir John Franklin, which set out in 1845, was lost with all hands, but during the search for survivors, the route was established. First to make the passage in one ship was Roald Amundsen in 1903–06.

Northwest Passage The sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans along the north coast of North America. The first complete journey along its sea route was only achieved in 1903–6 by Roald Amundsen (1872–1928), the Norwegian explorer.

Northwest Passage, novel by Kenneth Roberts.