Who discovered the Arctic Northwest Passage? HINT: It wasn't a Norwegian in a herring smack.
No, GJOA with Roald Amundsen and crew arriving in Nome (Alaska) on August 1906 was NOT the first transit. The first transit was the crew who discovered the Arctic Northwest Passage in 1850 during their circumnavigation from England of the Americas. (See hyperlinks aka urls below.)
Today, Amundsen's route is referred to as a Route-4 West transit. FYI - there are seven (7) recognized Northwest Passage routes between the Atlantic and Pacific Arctic Circles either east or west depending on the direction of travel. Records have been kept since Amundsen completed his Northwest Passage and can be viewed here (as of the close of the 2019 navigation season):
Just so you can be clear - Roald Amundsen and crew was the first to transit the Northwest Passage entirely by sea using GJOA.
The rest of the Who discovered it story... the Northwest Passage... and a whole lot more... are told below... Enjoy!
(Some content is repeated)