c. 1755-1820. British explorer and fur
trader. In 1789, he was the first European to
see the river, now part of N Canada, named
after him. In 1792-93 he crossed the Rocky
Mountains to the Pacific. In 1793 Mackenzie
crossed the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
coast of what is now British Columbia, making
the first known crossing N of Mexico. He was
knighted in 1807.