Question

Lewis and Clark were tasked with exploring the Louisiana territory. As part of this

exploration, they were to search for a "northwest passage", which was a navigable river
flowing east to west that would aid in trading with Asia. This was a hold-over from
Columbus's idea of getting to the far east by a sailing west.
True False

Answer 1

The statement is true because Lewis and Clark were indeed tasked with exploring the Louisiana Territory, and one of their objectives was to search for a northwest passage. The northwest passage referred to a hypothetical navigable river that would provide a direct route from the east coast of the United States to the western shores of North America, potentially opening up new trade routes with Asia. This concept of finding a westward route to Asia was influenced by Christopher Columbus's initial idea of reaching the Far East by sailing westward.