Henry Hudson was an English explorer born in 1565 who made four voyages trying to find the Northwest Passage between Europe and Asia. In 1609, while exploring for the Dutch East India Company, he sailed up the river that now bears his name and discovered the Hudson River and Hudson Bay. His exploration of the Arctic failed to find the passage but expanded European knowledge of the region. In 1611, Hudson's crew mutinied and set him adrift in Hudson Bay where he died, though he made important geographic discoveries before his death.