In the long history of the colonial quest to discover the Northwest Passage – the ‘Strait of Anian’ or the route to the ‘Sea of the West’ in some earlier versions – Alexander Mackenzie's two expeditions in 1789 and 1793 come at a pivotal time and play a significant role. They also exemplify in an extreme form one crucial aspect of the search from the start: the economic impetus. In this chapter I will argue that while other explorations associated with the search were often impelled by multiple motivations – of which the economic one had more or less weight in different instances – Mackenzie's participation in the quest was driven by a thoroughly commercial imperative. I will also attempt to demonstrate how an entrepreneurial mentality pervades the account of his trips in search of the Passage.

Mackenzie's Expeditions in Context

After the initial explorations of the Hudson Bay area by the English, and of Baja California northwards by the Spanish, for a long period much of the pursuit of a practicable route across North America that would give easier access to the Orient came from the French. Starting in the late seventeenth century, coureurs de bois, adventurers and officially-sponsored leaders of expeditions attempted to penetrate beyond the Mississippi; one of their goals was to reach the Pacific, and China beyond.