What is "northeast passage"

Northeast \North`east"\, a. Of or pertaining to the northeast; proceeding toward the northeast, or coming from that point; as, a northeast course; a northeast wind.

Northeast passage, a passage or communication by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the north coast of Asia.

Passage \Pas"sage\, n. [F. passage. See Pass, v. i.]

1. The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, over, across, or through; as, the passage of a man or a carriage; the passage of a ship or a bird; the passage of light; the passage of fluids through the pores or channels of the body.

   What! are my doors opposed against my passage!
   --Shak.

2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.

   The ship in which he had taken passage.
   --Macaulay.

3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's passage.

4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.] ``Endure thy mortal passage.''
   --Milton.

   When he is fit and season'd for his passage.
   --Shak.

5. Way; road; path; channel or course through or by which one passes; way of exit or entrance; way of access or transit. Hence, a common avenue to various apartments in a building; a hall; a corridor.

   And with his pointed dart Explores the nearest passage to his heart.
   --Dryden.

   The Persian army had advanced into the . . . passages of Cilicia.
   --South.

6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series; as, the passage of time.

   The conduct and passage of affairs.
   --Sir J. Davies.

   The passage and whole carriage of this action.
   --Shak.

7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. ``In thy passages of life.''
   --Shak.

   The . . . almost incredible passage of their unbelief.
   --South.

8. A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.

   How commentators each dark passage shun.
   --Young.

9. Reception; currency. [Obs.]
   --Sir K. Digby.

10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.

    No passages of love Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.
    --Tennyson.

11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.

12. In parliamentary proceedings:

    1. The course of a proposition (bill, resolution, etc.) through the several stages of consideration and action; as, during its passage through Congress the bill was amended in both Houses.

    2. The advancement of a bill or other proposition from one stage to another by an affirmative vote; esp., the final affirmative action of the body upon a proposition; hence, adoption; enactment; as, the passage of the bill to its third reading was delayed. ``The passage of the Stamp Act.''
       --D. Hosack.

       The final question was then put upon its passage.
       --Cushing.

       In passage, in passing; cursorily. ``These . . . have been studied but in passage.''
       --Bacon.

       Middle passage, Northeast passage, Northwest passage. See under Middle, Northeast, etc.

       Of passage, passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; -- said especially of birds. ``Birds of passage.''
       --Longfellow.

       Passage hawk, a hawk taken on its passage or migration.

       Passage money, money paid for conveyance of a passenger, -- usually for carrying passengers by water.

       Syn: Vestibule; hall; corridor. See Vestibule.

The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP) is an Arctic ocean shipping route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, traversing the Arctic following Russia's and Norway's coasts.

The NEP traverses (from West to East) the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Chukchi Sea, and it includes the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The Northern Sea Route is a portion of the NEP; it is defined in Russian law and does not include the Barents sea and therefore does not reach the Atlantic ocean. However, given the fact that the NSR has a significant overlap over the majority of the NEP, sometimes the NSR term has been used to refer to the entirety of the Northeast Passage.

The Northeast Passage is one of several Arctic maritime routes, the others being the Northwest Passage (going along Canada's and Alaska's coasts) and the Transpolar Route (going through the North Pole).

The Portuguese navigator David Melgueiro – according to some sources – would have made the first Northeast Passage complete crossing, from east to west, in 1660. The first confirmed complete passage, from west to east, was made by the Finnish-Swedish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, in 1878.