Amazon.com description: Product Description: Early European explorers were on a quest for gold, fur, and other riches in the New World. Even more important to them was the race to find the legendary Northwest Passage, a quicker route to the vast trading wealth of the Far East. Soon they found that North America, and indeed the entire world, was much larger than they had ever imagined. Take a journey around the Mississippi River Valley with legendary explorers such as Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet, and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Illustrations, maps, and pictures help bring their stories to life. Learn about the land, the discoveries, and the people who helped shape a continent.