In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

Few people lived near the North Pole. A small Inuit community had settled the closest, (1) ______ for the most part the region remained isolated (2) ______ the rest of the world for centuries. A few (3) ______ explorers like Henry Hudson and James Cook (4) ______ to navigate the region in search of a sea (5) ______ to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the waters above North America.