 Vikings who came from Greenland may have been the first Europeans to explore the eastern section of the Northwest Territories, now Nunavut.Sir Martin Frobisher was the first of a long line of explorers to venture the Northwest Passage; but it was Henry Hudson who discovered the gateway to the Northwest (Hudson Bay) in 1610.For several decades the Hudson's Bay Company sent trade-explorers into the northern sea lanes and along the coast; in 1771, Samuel Hearne went from Hudson Bay and descended the Coppermine River.