northwest passage

English - English

Definition of northwest passage in English English dictionary

Sea route through the Arctic Ocean, connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean

A water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic Archipelago of northern Canada and along the northern coast of Alaska. Sought by navigators since the 16th century, the existence of such a route was proved in the early 19th century, but the passage was not traversed until the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led an expedition across it in 1903 to 1906. The ice-breaking tanker Manhattan was the first commercial ship to cross the passage (1969), after the discovery of oil in northern Alaska. a way by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, going along the northern coast of North America. It was first sailed through by Roald Amundsen in 1903-06 Northeast Passage, the. Sea passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the northern coast of North America. The search for a commercial sea route around the American land barrier dates from the end of the 15th century and attracted explorers such as Jacques Cartier, Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher, and Capt. James Cook. The passage was finally navigated successfully in 1906 by Roald Amundsen. As a modern trade route, it has been only marginally useful, because of the difficulties in navigating around the polar ice cap and the giant icebergs in the Atlantic between Greenland and Baffin Island and in the Pacific in the Bering Strait. The U.S. and Canadian governments have tried to encourage international commerce in the passage, and it would significantly shorten many international shipping distances, though the cost of strengthening ships against ice and the probable high insurance rates for vessels used in Arctic service could continue to inhibit use of the Northwest Passage as a trade route

a water route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans along the northern coast of North America; Europeans since the 16th century had searched for a short route to the Far East before it was successfully traversed by Roald Amundsen (1903-1906)

Hyphenation

north·west pas·sage

Turkish pronunciation

nôrthwest päsıc

Pronunciation

/ˌnôrᴛʜˈwest ˈpasəʤ/ /ˌnɔːrθˈwɛst ˈpæsəʤ/