Henry Hudson is best known for exploring and bringing European attention to the regions now called the Hudson River , Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay, all named after him.

Quick Scoop: What Did Henry Hudson Discover?

  • He explored the river in present‑day New York that now bears his name, the Hudson River, during his 1609 voyage for the Dutch East India Company.
  • He sailed into what is now New York Harbor and up the river about 150 miles, helping pave the way for Dutch claims and the later colony of New Netherland (including New Amsterdam, today’s New York City).
  • On a later voyage (1610–1611) for England, he explored what are now called Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay in northern Canada while searching for a Northwest Passage to Asia.
  • These journeys made him one of the key early European explorers of northeastern North America, even though he never actually found the sea route to Asia he was looking for.

In short: when people ask “what did Henry Hudson discover,” they’re usually referring to his major explorations of the Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay, which reshaped European maps and claims in North America.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.