author
Samuel Hearne
1745–1792
Best known for a grueling journey across northern Canada, this eighteenth-century explorer recorded one of the first European overland routes to the Arctic Ocean. His writing combines travel, survival, and close observation of the northern landscape.
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About the author
Born in London in 1745, Samuel Hearne served at sea while still young and later joined the Hudson’s Bay Company. He became known for a major overland expedition in northern North America, reaching the Arctic coast by way of the Coppermine River and becoming the first European recorded as making that journey by land.
Hearne’s travels were not just feats of endurance. He paid careful attention to geography, wildlife, and the knowledge of Indigenous guides and communities who made northern travel possible. In 1774 he established Cumberland House, an important inland Hudson’s Bay Company post, and he later served as governor of Fort Prince of Wales.
He is also remembered as an author. His published account of his travels helped shape how British readers imagined the far north, and it remains part of the history of exploration in Canada. Hearne died in London in November 1792.