James Cook

Because captain cook died before most of them

James Cook was an English sea captain. Contrary to popular opinion, he did NOT discover Australia, nor New Zealand, but he was famous for several reasons:

On Cook's first journey, departing in 1768, his mission was to chart the transit of Venus. Commanding the 'Endeavour', Cook went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. He first came across New Zealand, which had already been discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. He spent some months there, charting the coastline. Nearly a year later, he set sail east, becoming the first known European to sight the Eastern coast of Australia, in April 1770. He continued north, charting the coast in some detail, before returning a favourable report to England. It was this report which convinced the authorities to colonise the Australian continent with convicts.

On Cook's second journey which lasted from 1772-1775, he commanded the 'Resolution' and the 'Adventure' on an expedition to the South Pacific, disproving the rumour of a great southern continent, exploring the Antarctic Ocean, New Hebrides and New Caledonia.

On his third journey, commencing in 1776, Cook visited and named the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii, and unsuccessfully sought a northwest passage along the coast of North America, including Alaska. On his way back to England, he stopped at Hawaii again. After a boat was stolen by natives, he and his crew had an altercation with the Hawaiians. On 14 February 1779, Cook was speared by Hawaiian natives. This was a tragic end to the career of a noble and courageous explorer.

Captain's Cook's original mission was to observe the transil of Venus from the vantage point of Tahiti. He was then under orders to try to find the great unknown southern continent, and claim it for Britain. In so doing, he charted the eastern coastline, making extensive notes on the people, flora, fauna and prospective suitability for colonisation, and reported back to England.

Yes. At the time, he was not yet a captain, but Lieutenant James Cook discovered Botany Bay in April 1770. Originally, he gave it the name of "Stingray Harbour", but the name was changed after he and his crew (including botanist Joseph Banks) landed and discovered such a variety of new plant species there.

The answer below is WRONG. The men of his time explored because they were looking for water routes to Asia so trade could be established. They also were used to gain footholds into new territory so colonies could be established. Sailing for the European kings was also a means to get rich, become famous, or given a governorship by the king later on. Columbus signed a contract that made him the "admiral of the Deep Blue Sea.". People like Cook also had contracts with the crown stating what the requirements of his explorations.

Captain James Cook's major exploration was arguably his first expedition. On Cook's first journey, departing in 1768, his mission was to chart the transit of Venus. Commanding the 'Endeavour', Cook went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. He first came across New Zealand, which had already been discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642. He spent some months there, charting the coastline. Nearly a year later, he set sail east, becoming the first known European to sight the Eastern coast of Australia, in April 1770. He continued north, charting the coast in some detail, before returning a favourable report to England. It was this report which convinced the authorities to colonise the Australian continent with convicts.

James Cook's first expedition commenced in 1768.

James Cook did not "discover" Tonga, but he first visited the islands in 1773, whilst on his second voyage.

Tonga was discovered by two unnamed Dutch explorers in 1616. However, Dutch trader/explorer Abel Tasman is often given the credit, as he was the first known European to land there, doing so in 1643.

Captain Cook did not travel directly to Australia. He left Plymouth, England, in August 1768 and reached Australia in April 1770. On the way, he stopped at Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus (his main mission), then stopped at New Zealand for many months of exploration and mapping before seeking the "unknown continent" further west.

Captain James Cook did not actually find any countries. He was the first to chart the eastern coast of Australia, and he was the first to circumnavigate New Zealand. However, he did not find either of these countries. He was the first European to come across Hawaii, which he called the Sandwich Islands, but they do not constitute a "country".

James Cook, who was not yet a Captain but a Lieutenant, travelled to Australia in the HM Bark Endeavour.

James Cook took a number of scientists on board ship. Among them were three botanists: Sir Joseph Banks, and Swedish and Finnish botanists Daniel Solander and Dr Herman Spöring, who together made the first major collection of Australian flora, describing many species new to science.

Cook's third journey commenced in 1776, during which he visited and named the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii, and unsuccessfully sought a northwest passage along the coast of North America. On his way back to England, he stopped at Hawaii again. On 14 February 1779, Cook was speared by Hawaiian natives.

James Cook claimed both New Zealand and New South Wales (the eastern coast of the Australian continent) for Britain.

James Cook did not find Australia. This is a common misconception. The first non-Aboriginal people to visit Australia were the Malay and Indian traders, from the Indonesian islands. They collected sea slugs from the Australian coast to trade with china, where the slugs were a prized delicacy. The first European to come across Australia was the Dutch Captain, William Jansz, who sighted Australia in 1606 and explored the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, he did not realise he had landed on a new continent, and believed it to be part of New Guinea. Dutch maps reflected this error for many years. Jansz was followed by fellow countrymen Dirk Hartog (1616) and Abel Tasman (1642). The first Englishman to arrive on Australian shores was William Dampier, in 1688, and he was so unimpressed that his report put off England for another seventy years. Captain Cook was on a scientific expedition to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti when he continued west, coming across New Zealand and then continuing on until he reached the Australian mainland and charted the Eastern coast, in 1770.

Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook reached the eastern coast of Australia in April 1770.

He first sighted and named Point Hicks on the southeastern coast, and gradually moved northwards.

Captain James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on the 17th of January, 1773, and reached a latitude of 67 degrees 15 minutes S. It is not clear whether or not he actually set eyes on Antarctica since the ice pack prevented any further southward progress. In January, 1820, as a result of an earlier expedition where he was blown off course, the British Royal Navy sent William Smith as pilot with Edward Bransfield to search the waters south of the newly claimed South Shetland Islands. It is subsequently claimed that they are the first to see the Antarctic Peninsula. On the 27th of January, 1820, Russian, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen, becomes the first person to see the Antarctic continent. In January,1821, Bellingshausen returns to the Antarctic and completes a circumnavigation of Antarctica being only the second explorer, after Cook, to do so. In February, American sealer John Davis arguably becomes the first person to land on the Antarctic continent. A Norwegian scientist immigrant to Australia, Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (1864-1934), became the first man to set foot on the Antarctic when he stepped on to Cape Adare on the 24th of January, 1895. From 1894-95 he devoted his time to exploration of Antarctica. He attempted to reach the South Pole in 1897. During this expedition, he was the first to discover lichen in the Antarctic, and reached a latitude of 78 degrees 5 minutes S.

After having been initially named by him the Hervey Islands, they eventually became to be known as islands originally charted by him, in other words, the Cook Islands, at least in part due to being labeled that way on Russian charts as early as the 1820's.

Cook was on his third journey, and returning to England in 1779. He had already visited the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) on his outward journey where, due to an unusual combination of circumstances, he was perceived to be a certain god returning from across the sea. The natives revered him and treated him exceptionally well, and when they saw him off, it was with all the ceremonial pomp they reserved for their most highly honoured gods.

Cook then returned to Hawaii on his return trip to England, but this was perhaps his biggest mistake. For a start, his 'god' persona was not supposed to return, and his return caused some suspicions among the natives that he was perhaps not who they had thought he was. In trying to recover one of the ship's boats, which had been stolen by Polynesian islanders, or possibly while they were trying to send his boats away from the island again, Cook was attacked and killed by the natives, using spears (some reports say clubs), on the beach at Kealakekua Bay in Hawaii. The date of Cook's death was 14 February 1779.

There are reports that he was cannibalised, but cannibalism was not actively practised in Hawaii at this time. It seems his body was prepared in an unusual ritual, which may have seemed like cannibalism to those of his crew who witnessed it. Because he had originally been regarded as a god by the natives, his heart was divided between tribal chiefs and eaten. his hands were stuffed with salt to preserve them, whilst many of his bones were placed around the island, given to other significant tribal chiefs. His remains were then returned to his crew in dignified fashion, with a cloak of white and black feathers, where they were placed in a small coffin and buried at sea.

captain James cooks backround was scotish.

The Dutch were the first recorded European explorers to land in Australia. Willem Jansz/Janszoon was the first to land, doing so in 1606. He was not particularly complimentary about Australia. He encountered hostility from the local indigenous people when he came achore on Cape York peninsula, and he lost ten of his crew during visits to the shore. He found the land swampy, but still charted 320 kilometres of the shore before returning to the Netherlands.

Later Dutch explorers did not think the land worthwhile enough to pursue any claims.

Englishman William Dampier also landed on the western coast, in 1688 and again in 1699. He was unimpressed by the dry, barren landscape, the lack of water and what he described as the "miserablest people in the world" - the native population. His negative reports led to the delay of England's colonisation of what is now Australia.

It was only when James Cook charted the east coast of the continent that a favourable report was sent back to England. Cook and his chief botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, made extensive notes about the fauna and flora, and both recommended Australia as a good site to establish a penal colony. They said the land was green and fertile, holding great promise.

James Cook's parents were farmers. His father's name was James Cook also, whilst his mother's name was Grace Pace.