Lewis and Clark Expedition, Part 1: The Search for the Northwest Passage
The dream of finding an all water route across North America, the mythical Northwest Passage, had been imagined since the time of Christopher Columbus, but three hundred years after the Admiral of the Ocean Seas completed his epic voyages, the vast interior of the continent was still essentially unknown to Europeans. As early as 1783, Thomas Jefferson had wanted to send an expedition to explore and chart the great unknown west of the Mississippi, and over the next twenty years, Jefferson tried on several occasions to enlist the support of some brave adventurer to undertake the exploration but with no success.
Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses the search for the Northwest Passage, and why it still matters today.
Images courtesy of the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, New York Public Library, Wikimedia - Getty Images, Missouri Historical Society.
The dream of finding an all water route across North America, the mythical Northwest Passage, had been imagined since the time of Christopher Columbus. Incredibly, three hundred years after the Admiral of the Ocean Seas completed his epic voyages, the vast interior of the continent was still essentially unknown to Europeans. This great uncertainty led to numerous theories about what lay beyond what men could see.