What is James Cook contribution to Oceanography?

Answer 1

James Cook (not yet a Captain but still a Lieutenant at the time he sailed to Australia) is sometimes wrongly credited with being the one who discovered Australia, but this is not the case as the continent was discovered over 150 years before Cook arrived.

Cook sailed up the eastern coast in 1770, and claimed the eastern half of Australia as New South Wales. He had a very favourable response to Australia, unlike his predecessor William Dampier, in 1688. Cook believed that the east coast of Australia would be suitable for colonisation, and he and Sir Joseph Banks recommended the region of botany Bay as suitable for a convict settlement.

Answer 2

James Cook explored and charted the eastern coast of Australia (he did not discover Australia). He and botanist Joseph Banks, who was aboard the Endeavour with Cook during this journey, proposed that Australia be settled as a penal colony. His reports of the continent were far more favourable than those of fellow Englishman William Dampier, who had only landed on Australia's far northwestern shores.

Cook therefore contributed important information and knowledge to Australia because his reports were directly responsible for the subsequent settlement of the land, eighteen years after Cook's mapping of the coast.

Answer 3

James Cook contributed to oceanography by helping find many known islands, such as Hawaii,the Cook Islands,and many more.