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James Cook had just completed a scientific mission in Tahiti, i.e. the observation of the transit of Venus across the sun. He was then under orders to sail west and try to find the unknown great southern continent which was believed to exist. On the way, he came across New Zealand which had already been discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. Seeing the islands were unoccupied by Europeans, Cook took the oportunity to chart New zealand and claim it for England.

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16y ago

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