Because the Arctic is an ocean surrounded by land, it is not surprising that waterways were the first means of transport. Northern Indigenous people plied the rivers and lakes in canoes and kayaks, and southerners coming into the area arrived in larger ships either across the seas or down the rivers. The phase of exploration known as the expansion of Europe, beginning in the 15th century, included a search for water routes around the northern end of the continents of the Northern Hemisphere: the Northwest and Northeast Passages. Neither route was discovered for another three centuries, but both are in ...(100 of 37874 words)