Introduction
Henry Hudson, whose biography and discoveries are the subject of this review, was a famous English navigator and discoverer of the 16th and 17th centuries. He contributed significantly to the development of geographical science and explored and described the Arctic Ocean. Henry Hudson also discovered new straits, bays, rivers, and islands. That is why several places on the North American continent and some water areas are named by his name.
Bibliographical Information
The explorer’s biography is half woven of white spots, which is not surprising because Sir Henry lived in the 16th century. It is assumed that he was born in London in September 1570 and that he began his sea voyage as a cabin boy. In the question of who Hudson’s parents were, history is silent and does not say whether he was the only kid in the family or grew up in the noisy company of brothers and sisters. One thing is certain: from his early youth until his last days, Henry’s life was tied to the sea. Henry Hudson became a captain and etched his name in seafaring history in golden letters. There are reports that the sailor had a wife and three sons. It is known that one of them traveled with his father and another description of his father’s journey (Chadwick). The mariner’s wife even tried to erect a monument to his glory, but without success.
The Importance of Henry Hudson in the Development of American History
The captain’s voyages should be seen in the context of the era. He accomplished his explorations during the years when Queen Elizabeth I sat on the throne, whose reign was marked by the rapid development of English seafaring and commerce. She encouraged enterprising maritime companies and the private initiatives of sailors. During her reign that F. Drake made his famous circumnavigation of the globe (Chadwick). The queen’s treasury was enriched by sea trade, so under her authority, many English companies initiated exploration of the waters to find more profitable routes of communication with other continents and nations.
Henry Hudson sailed from Amsterdam in April 1609 on the small ship Half-Moon. Hudson was given the freedom to choose between the Northeast Passage and the Northwest Passage. In early May, he was already back in the Barents Sea, near New Land. The expedition found itself in challenging conditions: bitterly cold and heavy ice, invisible in the fog, surrounded the Half-Moon. There was no map of these places; in the small crew of eighteen to twenty men, quarrels broke out; the mood was agitated, and a riot was being prepared (Hunter 10). Hudson proposed two ways: to head for the shores of America, according to a letter and map sent by Captain John Smith, or to seek the way north, through the present-day Davis Strait.
They decided to look for the road that Captain Smith had indicated. In the middle of May, Hudson went to the Faroe Islands and tried to find a nonexistent route to China while sailing in the American bays. While Half-Moon was near Newfoundland, one of her masts broke and fell overboard in June. Hudson made his way to the American shore and set a new mast at the mouth of the Kennebec River. He became convinced that an exchange trade could be conducted in those places and that the sea was full of tuna. After this, he made two more approaches to the shores of what is now Maine and Massachusetts, at Penobscot Bay and Cape Cod (south of Boston). The Hudson rounded this cape and approached Delaware and the Chesapeake Bay in August (Pritchard 28). There was no strait, so the Hudson turned north again. In September, he entered New York Bay and went up the Great North River (now the Hudson River). On reaching the place where the city of Albany now stands, he ascertained that this route did not lead to China.
His discoveries filled in many white spots on maps of the time. The bay he found was several times wider than the Baltic Sea. The coast he described became a lucrative location for the long-standing fur trade of the shipping company. The Strait of Hudson is a convenient outlet to Arctic waters from the Atlantic Ocean. Many geographic sites bear the traveler’s name, including a river, a county, and a city. Henry Hudson contributed a truly enormous amount to the exploration of northern North America. His travels solidified the Dutch presence in the Hudson River region and also enabled the English to claim parts of Canada. In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed south; while sailing down the Hudson River, he realized that he would not make it to the Pacific by that route (Hunter 33). He changed his course and sailed upstream, reaching the place where the city of Albany now stands.
Conclusion
The sailor became one of the most prominent discoverers of his time. Photographs, and maps of the continents, confirm that the navigator immortalized his name. Unfortunately, like many other travelers of the time, he did not immediately receive recognition. The mariner could not travel in several ships; he was granted one or two vehicles. Nevertheless, his contribution to geographical science is challenging to overestimate. Due to him, hard-to-reach areas of the northern seas and coastlines were explored.
Works Cited
Chadwick, Ian. Ian Chadwick’s Biography of Henry Hudson, 17th Century Elizabethan Explorer, Web.
Hunter, Douglas. Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World. Bloomsbury, 2009.
Pritchard, Evan T. Henry Hudson and the Algonquins of New York: Native American Prophecy and European Discovery, 1609. Council Oak, 2010.