James Cook

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.

Captain Cook was aware of the importance of certain vitamins in preventing scurvy. He ensured on his voyages that his crew had sauerkraut and lemon syrup, as he believed these contained the necessary vitamins to prevent scurvy - as indeed they do. The vital ingredient was vitamin C.

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After observing the transit of Venus in June 1769, Lieutenant James Cook (not yet a Captain) went on to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the great continent which some believed to extend round the pole. Cook was under secret orders to try to find the great unknown southern continent, and claim it for Britain. In so doing, he charted the eastern coastline of what he called "New South Wales" (now Australia), making extensive notes on the people, flora, fauna and prospective suitability for colonisation, and reported back to England.

It was shortly after observing the transit of Venus that Cook 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 westward for New Holland, the eastern coast of which he later named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.

Captain Cook was commissioned by the Royal Society in England to search the southern seas and find the "Great Southland" ("Terra Australis") that was believed to exist in the world's southern oceans somewhere. The result was that although he hadn't been the first European to discover Australia, he was the first known to have sailed along and chart most of the eastern coast of Australia - which was eventually to become the most significant for settlement.

This was most significant in history because it helped to define the boundaries of the great southern nation: as a result, the Royal Society was still not satisfied that the great Terra Australis had actually yet been found, and Cook named the land, New South Wales, believing it to resemble Wales in the UK. Two years after this journey, in 1772, Cook was sent again to discover if another great land lay east of Australia. It was on this journey that he became the first European to cross the Antarctic Circle.

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James Cook returned from his first major voyage in July 1771. This was the journey in which he observed and successfully recorded the Transit of Venus, and during which he charted New Zealand and Australia's east coast.

Captain Cook was speared by Hawaiian natives in Kealakekua Bay when he revisited the Hawaiian Islands (which he had named the Sandwich Islands) whilst returning from his third journey. At that stage, the Hawaiian Islands were not part of any country.

Many early explorers took astronomers to assist with navigation and record any new stars discovered during the voyage. However,in the case of James Cook, he had a specific mission: to observe the transit of Venus from the best known vantage point, Tahiti. The astronomer, Charles Green, took the necessary observations and measurements alongside Cook and recorded notes of this momentous occasion. It is interesting to note that Cook and Green's measurements disagreed by as much as 42 seconds.

James Cook named the eastern half of Australia New South Wales when he charted it in 1770 and claimed it for England.