Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is the sea route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago linking the Atlantic and Pacific, the object of European exploration for over four centuries. The search consumed expeditions from Frobisher and Hudson to the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845, whose disappearance prompted the voyages that finally mapped the route. Roald Amundsen made the first complete transit in the small ship Gjoa from 1903 to 1906. Receding sea ice has since made the passage navigable in some summers, raising new sovereignty and shipping questions.