Northwest Passage

Why were people so interested in the Northwest Passage? The obvious answer is that it would have allowed them to get to China without going around Africa. Instead, they would have had to go, um, around Canada. This route is probably shorter, but it must have been obvious, even in 1600, that it was not easier.

The history of the Northwest Passage is pretty tortuous. We weren't sure there was one until 1648, and not until 1854 that there was one in the Western hemisphere. It wasn't navigated until 1906. By that time, no doubt, the commercial aspects of it had totally evaporated, and navigating the Northwest Passage had become one of those "jumping over the English Channel" things that were so popular in the Edwardian period.

What I wonder, though, is why everybody in 1600 was so sure there *was* a Northwest Passage. It's not obvious. Why shouldn't Siberia and Canada be joined by a land bridge over the North Pole? Maybe the weird Dantean geography that prevailed at the time gave Hudson and Frobisher reason to think that the New World and the Old World were separated by water, but I can't imagine why. Maybe it was all just wishful thinking.

But what an arbitrary thing to wish for. Northeast Passages didn't get half the love that Northwest ones did, despite being actually passable. What about Cape Horn? Did they even try to navigate up the Amazon? Nope. Everyone gravitated straight up Baffin Bay. I am beginning to think that there was a scam going on. "We can make more money with a flop than with a hit," they thought. Roald Amundsen put theory into practice and massively oversold shares in his expedition. He would have gotten away with it too, if his crew had been in on the scheme. Instead, his voyage was an unexpected success, and he had to flee to Antarctica. You know the rest of the story.