Henry Hudson entered Hudson Bay

On 2 August 1610, the English navigator Henry Hudson pushed his small ship, the Discovery, through the icy strait off northern Canada and into the enormous body of water now called Hudson Bay. He believed he had finally found the long-sought Northwest Passage, a sea route through North America to the riches of Asia.

The Discovery had left London that April with a crew of roughly two dozen, including Hudson’s son John. Instead of an open passage west, Hudson found a vast, ice-choked basin. He spent months charting its eastern shores before the ship became trapped in the ice of James Bay for a brutal winter.

He had not found a route to Asia, but he had opened a sea that would shape Canada’s history.

The expedition ended in tragedy. In June 1611, a starving, mutinous crew set Hudson, his son, and several loyal men adrift in a small open boat. They were never seen again. Yet the bay he charted later became the heart of the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade, anchoring European claims across the Canadian north.