The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also called the Corps of Discovery, was an overland journey to the Pacific coast of North America led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. It was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson soon after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 to explore the new territory, to look for a water route across the continent, and to study its geography, plants, animals and Native peoples. The party set out from the Missouri River near St. Louis in 1804, wintered with the Mandan, and was guided through the Rocky Mountains with the help of Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman, who traveled with her infant son. It reached the Pacific in late 1805, spent the winter at Fort Clatsop, and returned in September 1806. The expedition produced detailed maps and journals, though it also opened the way for American expansion.
Before and after
- 1804Civil Code of the French
- 1804Discovery of osmium
- 12 February 1804Death of Immanuel Kant
- from 14 February 1804 to 7 October 1813First Serbian Uprising
- from 14 May 1804 to 23 September 1806Lewis and Clark Expedition
- from 18 May 1804 to 7 July 1815First French Empire
- 4 July 1804Birth of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- 28 July 1804Birth of Ludwig Feuerbach
- from 11 August 1804 to 8 June 1867Austrian Empire
More in Exploration & discovery
- 1787First Fleet
- from 19 May 1845 to 1 January 1848Franklin's lost expedition
- from 1901 to 1904Discovery Expedition (1901-1904)
- from August 1907 to March 1909British Antarctic Expedition (1907–1909)
- from 1 June 1910 to 14 June 1913Terra Nova Expedition
- from 3 June 1910 to 30 January 1912Amundsen's South Pole expedition
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.