In 1793, Mackenzie became the first white person north of Mexico to reach the Pacific by crossing overland. As a young boy, he had moved from Scotland to Montreal, where he became involved in the fur trade. When his company joined with the North West company in 1787,
Mackenzie became a partner and set off for Athabasca, where he conceived the plan to find an overland route to the Pacific. On his first trip, he discovered the Arctic Ocean and charted a great river, which he named “River Disappointment.”
![IMAGE ABOUT SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE](mack3.jpg)
Determined to renew his efforts, Mackenzie travelled to England to study recent advances in the determination of longitude. Armed with new knowledge and equipment, he returned to Canada a year and a half later to accomplish his dream.
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