Everything about Alexander Mackenzie totally explained
Sir Alexander Mackenzie (;
1764 -
March 12,1 o'clock am
1820) was a
Scottish-Canadian explorer.
Mackenzie was born in
Stornoway on the isle of
Lewis in the
Outer Hebrides,
Scotland. In 1774 his family moved to
New York, and then to
Montreal in 1776 during the
American Revolution. In 1779 he obtained a job with the
North West Company, on whose behalf he travelled to
Lake Athabasca and founded
Fort Chipewyan in 1788. He was sent to replace
Peter Pond, a partner in the
North West Company. From Pond he learned that the
First Nations people understood that the local rivers flowed to the northwest. Acting on this information he set out by canoe and discovered the
Mackenzie River on
July 10,
1789, following it to its mouth in the hope of finding the
Northwest Passage to the
Pacific Ocean. Although he ended up reaching the
Arctic Ocean, he named the river "
Disappointment River" as it didn't lead to
Cook Inlet in
Alaska as he'd expected. The river was later renamed in his honour.
In 1791 he travelled to the United Kingdom to study the new advances in the measurement of
longitude. Upon his return in 1792 he set out once again to find a route to the Pacific. Accompanied by native guides and French
voyageurs, Mackenzie left
Fort Fork following the route of the
Peace River. He found the upper reaches of the
Fraser River, but was warned by the local natives that the lower portion of the river was unnavigable and populated by belligerent tribes. He was instead directed to follow an established trading route by ascending the
West Road River, crossing over the
Coast Mountains, and descending the
Bella Coola River to the sea. He followed this advice and reached the Pacific coast on
July 20,
1793. Thus, he completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of
North America by a European north of
Mexico, in the process crossing the
Continental Divide. He arrived at
Bella Coola, where he first reached saltwater at
South Bentinck Arm, an
inlet of the Pacific Ocean. He had wanted to continue westward out of a desire to encounter the open Ocean, but was turned back by the hostility of the
Nuxalk nation, who had had a confrontation with the expedition of
George Vancouver six weeks before. At his westernmost point, (on
July 22 1793), hemmed in by Nuxalk war canoes, he enscribed "Alex MacKenzie from Canada by land 22
d July 1793" on a rock using a reddish paint made of vermilion and bear grease, and turned around to return to "Canada". The rock, near the water's edge in Dean Channel, still bears his words, which were permanently inscribed later by surveyors. The site is now a provincial park.
He was knighted for his efforts in 1802, and served in the
Legislature of Lower Canada from 1804 to 1808. In 1812, he married and returned to
Scotland. Mackenzie died in 1820 of
Bright's disease. He is buried in
Avoch, on the
Black Isle,
Ross and Cromarty.
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