A hypothetical sea route across the north of the American continent to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific oceans.
north-west passage
Fact of the Day
It is reckoned that 5,000 Britons died each year in shipwrecks between 1793 and 1815.
Quote of the Day
"I have taken great care not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
"
~ Baruch Spinoza
On This Day
1536 The trial of four of Anne Boleyn's 'lovers'. Only one confessed (under torture), which he maintained up to the point of his death.
1689 William III went to war with France. It was the start of more than a century of titanic clashes for global hegemony.
1789 William Wilberforce made his first speech to the Commons on the abolition of slavery.
1926 Limited power of unions shown as TUC calls off General Strike without consulting miners, who went back to work in November on reduced pay.
1937 In a ceremony that had originally been scheduled for his brother, Edward VIII (who had abdicated in December 1936), George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1969 The minimum voting age in Britain was reduced from 21 to 18.
1994 The popular Labour leader John Smith died of a heart attack. He was replaced as leader by Tony Blair.