2018-09-01
Who Discovered the Northwest Passage?
Publication
Publication
Arctic , Volume 71 - Issue 3 p. 292- 308
In 1855 a parliamentary committee concluded that Robert McClure deserved to be rewarded as the discoverer of a Northwest Passage. Since then, various writers have put forward rival claims on behalf of Sir John Franklin, John Rae, and Roald Amundsen. This article examines the process of 19th-century European exploration in the Arctic Archipelago, the definition of discovering a passage that prevailed at the time, and the arguments for and against the various contenders. It concludes that while no one explorer was “the” discoverer, McClure’s achievement deserves reconsideration.
Additional Metadata | |
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John Franklin, John Rae, Northwest passage, Roald Amundsen, Robert Mcclure | |
dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4733 | |
Arctic | |
Organisation | Department of History |
Cavell, J. (2018). Who Discovered the Northwest Passage?. Arctic, 71(3), 292–308. doi:10.14430/arctic4733
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