David Thompson (April 30, 1770- February 10, 1857), was a Canadian surveyor and explorer. He was born in London, and died in Montreal, Canada East.

Thompson was a fur trader of the Hudson's Bay Company. From 1792 to 1812, he explored and mapped the country west of Hudson Bay and Lake Superior, across the Rocky Mountains to the headwaters of the Columbia River and down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. He was the first European to explore the Columbia from source to mouth. In 1797, he left the Hudson's Bay Company and joined the North West Company. The maps he made of the Columbia River basin east of the Cascade Mountains were of such high quality and detail that they continued to be regarded as authoritative well into the mid-20th century.

The land mass mapped by Thompson amounted to more than a million and a half square kilometres of wilderness (half a continent). His contemporary, the great explorer Alexander Mackenzie, remarked that Thompson did more in ten months than he would have thought possible in two years. Thompson’s map, his greatest achievement, was so accurate that 100 years later it was still the basis for many of the maps issued by the Canadian government and the railways. Thompson also completed the exacting survey of much of the Canada–U.S. boundary along the 49th parallel.

He married Charlotte Small , a Métis, the "Woman of the Paddle Song." He and Charlotte had 13 children.

In his published journals, Thompson recorded seeing large footprints near Jasper, Alberta, in 1811. It has been suggested that these prints were similar to what has since been called the sasquatch.

Alexander Mackenzie strongly resented some of Thompson's actions and wrote a letter to the king in which he is said to have denounced Thompson for marrying a Métis.

Thompson died in Montreal in near obscurity, his achievements almost unrecognized. He is interred there in the Mount Royal Cemetery. However, in 1957, one hundred years after his death, the Canadian government honored him with his image on a Canadian postage stamp. His prowess as a geographer is now well-recognized. He has been called "the greatest land geographer who ever lived."

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• "The greatest land geographer who ever lived: A short history" by J.B. Tyrell
• David Thompson Canadian Fur Trader and Mapmaker
• Bigfoot Encounters: David Thompson