Northwest Passage Exploration

Northwest Passage exploration was the centuries-long search for a navigable sea route through the Arctic islands and channels north of mainland Canada. European expeditions pursued the route for trade and imperial advantage from the voyages of John Cabot and Martin Frobisher onward, often relying on Indigenous geographical knowledge while struggling with sea ice, cold and inadequate supplies.

The disappearance of Sir John Franklin’s expedition in the 1840s triggered an enormous series of searches that mapped much of the Canadian Arctic. Roald Amundsen finally completed the first recorded transit of the passage between 1903 and 1906, demonstrating a route whose practical use remained constrained by ice and difficult navigation.