Samuel Hearne

Searching for the Arctic Route.

A visual account of Samuel Hearne’s journeys to the north of what today is called Canada. Hearne was looking for the mysterious Northwest Passage, fired by the imagination of prior explorers and the greed of trading companies. Hearne was the first known European to reach the shore of the Arctic Ocean by an overland route and he discovered that there was no navigable passage through the continent at lower latitudes.

Samuel Hearne undertook three expeditions from November 1769 to June 1772 with the guidance of the native Cree and Chipewyan people, including Matonabbee, a respected leader who became crucial to the third expedition. Along the way, we learn about the local flora and fauna, the culture and habit of the indigenous First Nations, and witness the infamous Bloody Falls massacre of Copper Inuits near the mouth of the Coppermine River.