Royal Commonwealth Society : Map of the Mackenzie River

Wentzel, Willard Ferdinand (c1780-1832)

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This map is one of the earliest depictions of the Mackenzie River, Canada’s longest river system, which became a major route into the country’s northern interior for European explorers and traders from the late 18th century. It was created by North West Company fur trader Willard Ferdinand Wentzel, a Norwegian native who managed its post at Fort Providence on Great Slave Lake. Wentzel joined John Franklin’s Arctic expedition of 1819-1822, providing native Canadian guides and hunters to support its exploration of the northern coast east of the Coppermine River. He sketched the map at Fort Enterprise, its base at Winter Lake on the Arctic coast. The expedition’s aim was to discover a north-west passage or navigable sea route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>See Janus record <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FRCMS%20253'>here</a></p>