Epic Wanderer

WINNER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA MEDAL FOR CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY

“Thompson’s story is a rich piece of the country’s heritage and D’Arcy Jenish has done a great service to history by not only recounting the extraordinary tale but fleshing out its enduring significance.” —Calgary Herald

Canada’s forgotten masterpiece—a great map measuring six feet, nine inches by ten feet, four inches—hangs behind glass and curtains in the Archives of Ontario in downtown Toronto. The man who completed it in 1814 spent nearly three decades on his epic project—the surveying and mapping of over 1.2 million square miles of largely uncharted Indian lands.

In the pursuit of scientific advancement David Thompson travelled from Hudson Bay to the Oregon country, and west to the Pacific coast, hacking through the bush and following unnamed rivers. Thompson’s contribution proved indispensable to the politicians and diplomats who decided the future of the rich territories of the continent’s Northwest—yet his name and work remained unrecognized until long after his death in 1857.

Award-winning popular historian D’Arcy Jenish recreates the extraordinary life and enduring accomplishments of David Thompson, “the greatest land geographer the world has produced.”