British-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and mapmakerDepartment
1770 CE
to 1831 CE
David Thompson (April 30, 1770 – February 10, 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and mapmaker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer".
Over his career he mapped over 3.9 million square kilometers of North America and for this has been described as the "greatest land geographer who ever lived."
(David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784–1812 (edited by J.B. Tyrell))