U.S.
Naval officer Silas Bent used this 1872 map to claim that the Gulf
Stream and other warm currents fed an open sea around the North Pole.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
From National Geographic by Greg Miller
Once just a figment of the imagination, a navigable sea route through the Arctic is becoming reality due to climate change.
This 1563 map by Giovanni Ramusio and Giacomo Gastaldi was the first
accurate map of the Americas sold commercially, but the blank areas at
the poles reflect the lack of geographical knowledge at the time.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
It had to be there: an ocean at the top of the world.
The ancient Greeks drew it on their maps, and for centuries, the rest of Europe did too.
The ancient Greeks drew it on their maps, and for centuries, the rest of Europe did too.
Beginning in the 1500s, countless men died trying to find it, hoping
for a maritime shortcut across the Arctic that would open up new trade
routes to Asia.
Now, thanks to a warming planet, the long-sought Northwest Passage actually exists … at least for part of the year.
Now, thanks to a warming planet, the long-sought Northwest Passage actually exists … at least for part of the year.
Sea
creatures abound in this 1598 map by the Dutch explorer Willem Barents.
He drew it while stuck in sea ice on his third trip to the Arctic.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
A new exhibit
at the Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine chronicles
this storied quest through centuries of treacherous exploration to the
increasingly open Arctic waters of today (the maps in this post come
from the exhibit).
This scene from the Illustrated London News, published in 1875, depicts a giant iceberg seen by a British expedition to the Arctic.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
The idea of a northern ocean passage dates back at least to the second century A.D. Ptolemy and the ancient Greeks believed that Earth had four habitable zones balanced by two uninhabitable frigid zones—often thought to be water—at the top and bottom of the globe.
But
it wasn’t until the early 16th century, after the voyages of Columbus,
that the idea of a Northwest Passage really took hold in the popular
imagination of Europeans, says Ian Fowler, the library’s director.
Columbus, after all, had sailed west looking for a sea route to the
East.
Instead, he found a continent blocking the way.
The Northwest
Passage would be a way around this continent.
Instead, he found a continent blocking the way.
This 1633 map by Gerhard Mercator depicts the North Pole as a massive rock surrounded by water.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
“After the Spanish and Portuguese took control of the trade routes in
the south, along the coasts of Africa and South America, it once again
becomes a very popular idea as a way for the Dutch and the French and
the English to get access to the East and the riches they believed to be
there,” Fowler says.
This
1645 map by Willem Blaeu incorporates new information from exploratory
expeditions, but its depiction of Greenland connected to mainland North
America runs counter to the idea of a Northwest Passage.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Maps from this period are filled with the wild imaginings and wishful
thinking of mapmakers, from nonexistent bays and islands to sea
monsters (you can see some of these figments of the imagination in the
gallery at the top of this post).
This 1558 map, supposedly based on the travels of the Zeno brothers of Venice, was widely copied.
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
Photograph courtesy Osher Map Library
There was also a lot of gamesmanship and outright deception in the
maps.
The map above comes from a book published in 1558 to describe the travels of two Venetian brothers in 1380.
The story is almost certainly bogus, Fowler says, made up in an attempt to retroactively claim the discovery of the New World for Venice.
Even so, the map was widely copied and may have led some expeditions astray.
“It’s dangerous,” Fowler says.
“It shows Greenland connected to Europe, which is obviously not true. South of Iceland, there’s a number of fictitious islands. And to the west of Greenland there’s a nice open sea, which at this time would have been unnavigable because of pack ice.”
The map above comes from a book published in 1558 to describe the travels of two Venetian brothers in 1380.
The story is almost certainly bogus, Fowler says, made up in an attempt to retroactively claim the discovery of the New World for Venice.
Even so, the map was widely copied and may have led some expeditions astray.
“It’s dangerous,” Fowler says.
“It shows Greenland connected to Europe, which is obviously not true. South of Iceland, there’s a number of fictitious islands. And to the west of Greenland there’s a nice open sea, which at this time would have been unnavigable because of pack ice.”
Colored
clouds represent the northern lights near the center of this 1709 map
by Jacques Peeters, which, unlike many maps of its time, includes only
geographical features that were confirmed by explorers.
This
detail from Peeters’ map (previous image) includes notes on parts of
the Greenland coast surveyed by different explorers, as well as a dotted
line (on the coast, near the center) to indicate an area of geographic
uncertainty.
Early explorers also occasionally played fast and loose with the
facts.
The Englishman Martin Frobisher made three voyages in search of the Northwest Passage in the late 1500s.
He didn’t find it.
“He discovered some straits, pretended to find a lot more,” Fowler says.
On one trip, he returned to England with tons of what he claimed was gold-containing ore.
It was enough to convince his backers to fund another trip, but it ultimately turned out to be pyrite—fool's gold.
The Englishman Martin Frobisher made three voyages in search of the Northwest Passage in the late 1500s.
He didn’t find it.
“He discovered some straits, pretended to find a lot more,” Fowler says.
On one trip, he returned to England with tons of what he claimed was gold-containing ore.
It was enough to convince his backers to fund another trip, but it ultimately turned out to be pyrite—fool's gold.
This
1713 map by Jean-Dominique Cassini was the most scientific map of the
world in its day.
It draws on the observations and measurements of many
explorers and depicts two possible routes for a Northwest Passage.
With time, and additional exploration, the maps got better.
The map
below, published in Russia in 1784, was the first to show details
gleaned from a large and highly organized survey of the Arctic coast of
Siberia.
It depicts a possible Northwest Passage: On the far right side, "R. de l'Quest” connects Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
Notice the level of detail on the Asian side of the Pacific compared to the North American side—the situation is reversed in a map published the same year based on Captain James Cook’s exploration of the coast of Alaska (see slide nine in the gallery above).
This
detail showing the Bering Strait comes from a 1784 map by Captain James
Cook that was the first printed map to accurately depict the west coast
of North America (on the right side).
In contrast to a Russian map
printed the same year (further down in this post), it has relatively
little detail of the Siberian coast (on the left).
It depicts a possible Northwest Passage: On the far right side, "R. de l'Quest” connects Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
Notice the level of detail on the Asian side of the Pacific compared to the North American side—the situation is reversed in a map published the same year based on Captain James Cook’s exploration of the coast of Alaska (see slide nine in the gallery above).
This map,
published in Russia in 1784, depicts a possible Northwest Passage: on
the far right side, "R. de l'Quest” connects Hudson Bay to the Pacific
Ocean.
Perhaps the most famous attempt to find the Northwest Passage was the expedition led by Sir John Franklin
in 1845.
Franklin was an officer in the British Navy who had led two previous expeditions to the Arctic.
But this time the expedition didn’t return on schedule, and Franklin’s wife, Lady Jane, began pressing the British government to send a search party, which they did in 1848.
The search grew to include more ships over the coming years, and newspaper reports on the hunt for the missing expedition gripped the British public.
Franklin was an officer in the British Navy who had led two previous expeditions to the Arctic.
But this time the expedition didn’t return on schedule, and Franklin’s wife, Lady Jane, began pressing the British government to send a search party, which they did in 1848.
The search grew to include more ships over the coming years, and newspaper reports on the hunt for the missing expedition gripped the British public.
Ultimately, though, all the searchers found were several graves of
men who’d died early on and a few scattered notes and other relics.
The two boats in the expedition had become trapped in ice, and all 129 men, including Franklin, perished.
The second of his two boats, the H.M.S. Terror, was finally located only a few weeks ago.
The two boats in the expedition had become trapped in ice, and all 129 men, including Franklin, perished.
The second of his two boats, the H.M.S. Terror, was finally located only a few weeks ago.
Unbeknownst to Franklin and other explorers, their expeditions
coincided with what scientists call the Little Ice Age, a period of
several centuries of unusual cold in the Arctic.
As temperatures began
to climb toward the end of the 19th century, the long-sought Northwest
Passage finally opened up.
Published
in 1868, this German map portrays a (nonexistent) land bridge
stretching across the Arctic from Greenland.
The red line coming up from
the bottom is the mapmaker’s suggested route for an expedition.
The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen completed the first journey entirely by boat through the Northwest Passage in 1906.
It took three years and two winters on the ice.
It took three years and two winters on the ice.
More recently, it’s been getting easier.
As polar ice has melted, the route has become more accessible.
Last month a cruise ship carrying 1,700 people became the first passenger liner to complete the passage.
The melting of Arctic sea ice has raised the possibility of new trade routes and energy production, as well as the potential for territorial conflicts and environmental damage to a relatively untouched part of the Earth.
As polar ice has melted, the route has become more accessible.
Last month a cruise ship carrying 1,700 people became the first passenger liner to complete the passage.
The melting of Arctic sea ice has raised the possibility of new trade routes and energy production, as well as the potential for territorial conflicts and environmental damage to a relatively untouched part of the Earth.
For better or worse, a new chapter in the storied history of the Arctic is just beginning.
Links :
This 2004 map from the Canadian Hydrographic Service
represents a more modern look at the Arctic.
- Fraunhofer : Safe navigation through the Northwest Passage
- National Post : The giant flaw in Canadian maps you never noticed: Mapmakers keep pretending we own the North Pole
- GeoGarage blog : Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt / A brief history of voyages through the Northwest Passage / Uncharted waters: Mega-cruise ships sail the Arctic / Arctic shipping passage 'still decades away' / North West Passage : from Groenland to Bering Straight ... / Map room: Borders on top of the world /Canada finds British vessel that vanished on doomed North-West ... / Arctic mapping to make navigating Northwest Passage ... / Swedish boat makes Arctic history
