The Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is the sea route across the northern Canadian Archipelago joining the Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic. For centuries European explorers had sought a way through the ice in search of a shorter route to the East. Many lives were sacrificed in the search until Roald Amundsen succeeded between 1903-1906 on board the Gjoa.

The shrinking of Arctic sea ice and advances in modern vessels has made the route increasingly accessible. Alongside the expedition ships carrying adventurers are a handful of commercial vessels cutting 2,500 miles off their journey, saving precious time and fuel, and serving the remote communities dotted through the region.

Humans first entered this region some 12,000 years ago, following big game across a land bridge that is now the Bering Strait. The first archaeological remains of a Paleoeskimo culture date to 5,000 years ago, followed by the Dorset culture 2,500 years later who developed marine hunting techniques.

Between 1,200 and 500 years ago the Thule began building whalebone and sod houses, the remains of which you can still see.

The Thule period also saw the first impact of an alien culture on the region. As Vikings expanded their territory, artefacts suggest trade links were established with the Norsemen who settled in Greenland.

More recently the Northwest Passage became infamous as explorers tried and failed for centuries to find a way through the ice.

The waterways and islands of the Northwest Passage are home to the famous Arctic Big Five - polar bear, musk ox, walrus, narwhal and beluga whales - alongside reindeer (caribou), seal, arctic fox and lemmings. In addition, the summer sees an influx of migratory visitors who are making the most of the short breeding season.

Lancaster Sound is a wildlife superhighway for many marine and terrestrial species, forming a unique ecosystem. In August 2017, a momentous step was taken to protect it with the formation of a national marine conservation area twice the size of Nova Scotia.

The landscape of the Northwest Passage consists almost entirely of low lying islands covered in tundra. There are no trees, just dwarf shrubs, forbs and sedges, as well as grasses. The number of plant species decreases in number and height the further north you go.

The land is bisected by a vast labyrinth of winding waterways, some of which are large enough to qualify as seas. There are 94 major islands (Baffin Island, the biggest, is larger than the UK) and 36,469 minor islands.

The population of 36,000 is spread over isolated settlements such as Pond Inlet, Kuglutuk, Kugaaruk, Cambridge Bay, Resolute and Gjoa Haven.

It can be very cold here! The little community of Resolute on Cornwallis Island is one of the coldest inhabited places on earth with the average annual temperature being -15.7°C (3.7°F). The daily mean temperatures in late summer however are more bearable: August is 2.0°C (35.6°F) and September -4.1°C (24.6°F).

The climate is very dry, with average precipitation of just 161.2mm (6.35 inches) a year. Most of this falls as snow from August to September – these are also the two months of the year when most expedition cruise ships visit.

Stories of early explorers evoke images of a bygone era of heroism and hardship, but the development of the Northwest Passage for trade is more mundane. The classic route for ships around Cape Horn was notoriously dangerous, long, and costly.

Finding a way through the northern ice would save time, cargo, lives and money. But the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the Panama Canal in 1914 took the edge off the need for the Northwest Passage. For years the only commercial activity involved companies like the Hudson Bay Trading Company – you can still see a few of their abandoned trading posts throughout the region.

In recent years the receding ice has regenerated interest as commercial opportunity knocks again. With rich oil, gas and mineral deposits discovered in the Northern Territories of Canada, this interest is likely to intensify in coming years.