Northwest Passage
The route missing from the maps
For centuries, maps of North America had a huge problem.
European explorers knew that the Atlantic Ocean was to the east and the Pacific to the west, but no one knew for certain whether a sea route existed that would allow crossing the north of Canada and connecting both oceans.
The possibility of finding it became one of the great obsessions of exploration. There was a hidden route somewhere in the Arctic. It just needed to be found.
A nearly unknown north
On maps from the 16th and 17th centuries, vast areas of the north of America appeared almost blank. Explorers knew some coastlines, but they didn’t know how they were connected to each other. Was there a passage between the islands? Did a channel exist that ran across the entire continent?
If they could find it, European ships would have a new route between Europe and Asia. The problem was that the Arctic was unlike any other place they had explored. There was ice, extreme temperatures, storms, and hundreds of islands separated by narrow channels.
A hidden route among the ice
Generation after generation of explorers headed north. Some found new straits. Others discovered islands that didn’t appear on the maps. Each expedition managed to add a small fragment to the enormous puzzle of the Arctic. But no one managed to complete the route.
The maps were gradually being filled in, but the Northwest Passage remained a mystery.
The expedition that disappeared
One of the most famous stories was the expedition led by Sir John Franklin.
In 1845, Franklin set out with two ships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, to try to cross the Northwest Passage. They carried more than a hundred men and ships prepared for a great expedition. But they never returned.
The two ships became trapped in the ice and all members of the expedition died. Their disappearance sparked an enormous search. For years, numerous expeditions traveled through the Arctic trying to discover what had happened. And, while searching for Franklin, they also completed the maps of that unknown region.
Finally, someone managed to cross it
In 1903, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen began an expedition that finally managed to cross the Northwest Passage. His ship, the Gjøa, was much smaller than the large ships used in previous expeditions. Amundsen spent several years carefully advancing among the islands of the Canadian Arctic.
In 1906, he reached the Pacific Ocean. At last, it was proven. The Northwest Passage existed.
The map had changed
The discovery did not mean that a new, easy-to-use maritime route had suddenly appeared. The route was extremely complicated. Ice could block the channels, and weather conditions were very difficult.
But the map of the world had changed. Cartographers could now draw a continuous maritime route between the Atlantic and the Pacific through northern Canada. An area that for centuries had appeared full of unknowns finally had a much more precise shape.
A route that matters again
For a long time, ice made the Northwest Passage too difficult to become a regular commercial route.
But the Arctic is changing. Global warming is reducing the amount of sea ice during part of the year, and some of the passages may become more accessible. This has reignited interest in the region.
The Northwest Passage is once again important for navigation, but it also raises new questions about the environment, sovereignty, and security of the Arctic.
The map that took centuries to complete
The Northwest Passage belongs to the Changed the Maps category because its history is, literally, the story of how a part of the world ceased to be blank.
For centuries, explorers searched for a route that may not even have existed. Some found new territories. Others disappeared. And each expedition added a small piece to the map. Until, after centuries of searching, the great mystery of northern America was finally drawn on paper: there was a path between two oceans hidden among the ice.
