Born 1764,
Stornoway, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Died March 12, 1820,
Scotland

When searching for a river route from the Canadian interior to the Pacific Ocean, Sir Alexander Mackenzie canoed through Alberta and British Columbia. He reached the ocean after traversing a complicated series of rivers and portages. Although Mackenzie did not find a route to cross this area exclusively by water, he became the first person to cross North America north of Mexico.

Mackenzie was born in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland. When he was ten years old, he and his widowed father sailed to New York. Shortly after their arrival the Revolutionary War broke out and Mackenzie’s father joined the British forces; he died from illness while in service in 1780. In the meantime, Mackenzie had been sent to school in the city of Montreal in Quebec.

Works in fur trade