Thompson, David, 1770-1857

English explorer, trader, and geographer David Thompson (1770-1857) was born in London and educated at the Grey Coat School, Christ's Hospital School, and at Oxford University.

English explorer, trader, and geographer David Thompson (1770-1857) was born in London and educated at the Grey Coat School, Christ's Hospital School, and at Oxford University. While still in his teens he came to Canada as an apprentice with the Hudson's Bay Company, but left in 1797 to become a partner in the North West Company. His extensive explorations of western Canada included the discovery of the source of the Columbia River in 1807, and he surveyed the entire river in 1811. He established trading posts throughout the Pacific north west, including ones on the Kootenai, Pend Oreille, and Spokane Rivers. In his later years he created a comprehensive map of the northern United States and Canada, based on the surveys he and others had completed. From 1816 to 1826 he headed the British commission that established the boundary between the U.S. and Canada. His old age was marred by poverty, and his work was largely forgotten until the posthumous publication of his writings in the early 1900s.

David Thompson, born in London, England, in 1770, was one of North America's greatest explorers, surveyors and mapmakers, as well as one of the finest travel writers of his era. In 1794, he was appointed as a surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Compay. He broke with the HBC and joined the North West Company as a surveyor in 1797. From 1792 to 1812, he mapped most of the country west of Hudson Bay and Lake Superior, across the Rocky Mountains to the source of the Columbia River, and the length of the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. He died in 1857.

English explorer, trader, and geographer David Thompson (1770-1857) was born in London and educated at the Grey Coat School, Christ's Hospital School, and at Oxford University. While still in his teens he came to Canada as an apprentice with the Hudson's Bay Company, but left in 1797 to become a partner in the North West Company. His extensive explorations of western Canada included the discovery of the source of the Columbia River in 1807, and he surveyed the entire river in 1811. He established trading posts throughout the Pacific northwest, including ones on the Kootenai, Pend Oreille, and Spokane Rivers. In his later years he created a comprehensive map of the northern United States and Canada, based on the surveys he and others had completed. From 1816 to 1826 he headed the British commission that established the boundary between the U.S. and Canada. His old age was marred by poverty, and his work was largely forgotten until the posthumous publication of his writings in the early 1900s.

English explorer, trader, and geographer David Thompson (1770-1857) was born in London and educated at the Grey Coat School, Christ's Hospital School, and at Oxford University.

While still in his teens he came to Canada as an apprentice with the Hudson's Bay Company, but left in 1797 to become a partner in the North West Company. His extensive explorations of western Canada included the discovery of the source of the Columbia River in 1807, and he surveyed the entire river in 1811. He established trading posts throughout the Pacific northwest, including ones on the Kootenai, Pend Oreille, and Spokane Rivers. In his later years he created a comprehensive map of the northern United States and Canada, based on the surveys he and others had completed. From 1816 to 1826 he headed the British commission that established the boundary between the U.S. and Canada. His old age was marred by poverty, and his work was largely forgotten until the posthumous publication of his writings in the early 1900s.