Henry Hudson
The man who discovered the Hudson River
Dates:
1565 – born in London
1611 – unknown location
Job:
trader, consultant to the Muscovy Company, explorer and navigator
Special Achievements:
Voyages of exploration for the Muscovy Company and the discovery of the Hudson River
Travels:
- 1607- Hudson left England with only 20 people crew and reached what would later be called Whale Bay, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle. However, the weather was very cold and harsh, so the crew returned to England.
- 1608 – the second expedition that Hudson did was meant to discover a northeast passage through the Arctic waters north of Russia. The weather conditions made them come back as the sailors threatened to mutiny.
- 1609 – set sails from Amsterdam in the same direction. Conditions on board and the freezing weather and ice once again lead to near mutiny by the crew just as in his previous voyage. Hudson decides to change the direction completely and reached the New World where he traded with the natives and discovered a river.
- 1610 – the next voyage Hudson set out to do, passed Scotland, Greenland and Iceland to discover a passage to the Pacific. The crew were the first Europeans to spend the winter in the Canadian Arctic and there was munity as a result. After that, no details are known about Hudson and only 8 people from the crew managed to come back.
Cultural Impact:
- The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are all named after Henry Hudson.
- Hudson’s Bay Company exploited a lucrative fur trade along its shores for more than two centuries, growing powerful enough to influence the history and present international boundaries of Western North America.
- Hudson Strait became the entrance to the Arctic for all ships engaged in the search for the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic side.
