Alexander Mackenzie

author

Alexander Mackenzie

1764–1820

Best known for reaching the Pacific by land in 1793, he became the first recorded European to cross North America north of Mexico. His journeys through the Canadian interior also helped make his name part of the map, most famously in the Mackenzie River.

2 Audiobooks

Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. II

Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. II

by Alexander Mackenzie

Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. I

Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. I

by Alexander Mackenzie

About the author

Born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis around 1764, Alexander Mackenzie emigrated to North America as a child and entered the fur trade while still young. He became closely tied to the North West Company and built his career in the demanding world of inland trade and exploration.

Mackenzie is remembered for two major expeditions. In 1789 he traveled down the great river that now bears his name to the Arctic Ocean, and in 1793 he completed an overland journey to the Pacific coast. That second expedition made him the first recorded European to cross the continent north of Mexico.

He later published an account of his travels, helping secure his reputation as both explorer and author. Knighted in the early 1800s, he spent his later years in Scotland, where he died in 1820.