Christian IV's expeditions were sent by KingChristian IV of Denmark-Norway toGreenland andArctic waterways during the years 1605–1607. The expeditions were commissioned in order to locate the lostEastern Norse Settlement and reassert sovereignty overGreenland.
The expeditions were mostly unsuccessful, partly due to its leaders lacking experience with the difficult arctic ice and weather conditions and partly due to its leaders eventually being given instructions to search for theEastern Settlement on the east coast ofGreenland, which was almost inaccessible at the time due to southward-drifting ice.
The pilot on all three trips wasJames Hall, who – like many others until 1861 – trusted "Frobisher's Strait" to be in southern Greenland, whereas it is in fact a bay projecting into southernBaffin Island. The expeditions were respectively commanded byJohn Cunningham (or "Hans Køning"; 1605),Godske Lindenov (1606), andCarsten Richardson (1607).[1][2] The Danes had a falling-out with the English over the route being taken, far to the south of that recorded in the Bergen and Trondheim archives. They also sometimes searched for the imaginaryIsland of Buss.[3]
In the same vein, King Christian commissioned an expedition to North America in 1619. The expedition was captained by Dano-Norwegian navigator and explorer,Jens Munk. The ships were searching for theNorthwest Passage. The expedition arrived inHudson Bay landing at the mouth ofChurchill River, settling at what is nowChurchill, Manitoba. However, it was a disastrous voyage, with cold, famine, and scurvy killing most of the crew.[4]