The Long-Sought Route

摘要

The words "Northwest Passage" conjure up images of adventure, hardship, exploration, risk, resilience, extreme cold, bravery, fool-hardiness, and death. The fabled Northwest Passage is, of course, the long-sought maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the waters north of the North American mainland. These waters were probed in Viking times and probably even earlier, but it was an event in the late 15th century that accelerated exploration for the passage. In 1494, Pope Alexander VI, in the Treaty of Tordesillas, divided the new world between Spain and Portugal, with much of central and south America coming under Spanish rule. Meanwhile, Brazil, and locations in what are now Africa, India, and China, fell under the Portuguese. The immediate effect of the treaty was for the northern European trading nations, particularly England and the Netherlands, to begin aggressive exploration efforts to find an alternative route to the Orient that lay outside of the effective control of the Spanish or Portuguese crowns.