who discovered a river while searching for the northwest passage
Henry Hudson In 1607 and 1608, Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a rumored Northeast Passage to Cathay (present-day China) via a route above the Arctic Circle. In 1609 he landed in North America and explored the region around the modern New York metropolitan area, looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia on behalf of the Dutch East India Company.[5] He sailed up the Hudson River, which was later named for him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region.