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What if a Northwest Passage exists as shown on the map attached to this post (Canadian provincial boundaries shown for convenience of discussion only). The passage is navigable for its length, when not frozen in during winter. Applying a generous dollop of handwavium, assume no drastic effects on climate, and that history proceeds similarly through 1492, with various ATL native American tribes being fairly similarly situated to the OTL tribes of the time. What happens now?

Northwest Passage.jpg
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