James Cook

James Cook was chosen to explore. With his experience and skills, he was an ideal candidate for the scientific and exploration missions upon which he set out. His explorations were simply him following orders.

Cook's original mission was to observe the transit of Venus from the vantage point of Tahiti.

Cook was then 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 is significant that, contrary to popular belief, James Cook did not discover Australia. The continent he explored had been discovered over 150 years before, by the Dutch and possibly even the Portuguese before then.

It was upon the success of this first mission which then caused Cook to be selected for later, specific missions.

Despite popular opinion, Captain Cook neither discovered nor named Australia.

However, he is significant in Australian history for having been the first to map the eastern coast of the continent.

Prior to Cook's arrival in 1770, Australia was known variously as "New Holland" and the "Great Unknown Southern Land" by the Dutch and Portuguese traders who had passed by the continent on their way to Asia. The first English sea captain to visit Australia, William Dampier, was most unimpressed by the barren landscape of the northwest, and returned only negative reports to England.

It was not until James Cook's successful voyage which involved charting the eastern coast of Australia, that New South Wales was seen as a viable proposition for a convict colony. In particular, it was endorsed by Sir Joseph Banks, the influential botanist who travelled with Cook. Banks was one of three botanists aboard Cook's ship "The Endeavour", and he was a passionate advocate of British settlement and colonisation of the Australian continent. It was largely upon Cook's and Banks's recommendation that Australian ultimately was colonised by the British, and not by another power later. Because of Cook's positive report to England was enough to convince the authorities that it was worth colonising the continent - and so the history of white settlement in Australia began.

Unfortunately, Cook was also the one who declared Australia to be terra nullius - a land without ownership, and he did not recognise the indigenous people as the true "owners" of the land. Upon European settlement, and for many generations afterwards, the indigenous people were wrongly regarded as an inferior species. As a result, they suffered terrible injustices, displacement and loss of culture. To this day, the indigenous people see Cook as an invader.

One Contributors Opinion

Captain Cook lied, stole & murdered natives but Captain Cook was not the only villain. He was under orders to explore and chart new lands, and to make honest evaluations of the usefulness of those lands to the English authorities.

A Rebuttal

Cook went out of his way to treat the indigenous natives with respect. I suggest you read one of the many excellent books available about him, and come back and change your answer.

James Cook was an English sea captain. He is remembered for his contribution to exploration of the southern hemisphere, and his significant contributions to the charting of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia, neither of which he actually discovered (contrary to popular opinion).

It was upon Cook's recommendation that places such as New Zealand and Australia were colonised by the British, resulting in European settlement and the expansion of the British empire.

On his first journey, departing in 1768, he commanded the 'Endeavour' on an expedition to chart the transit of Venus. 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. Cook 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. 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 who contributed much to the knowledge of the continents and islands of the world.

James Cook commanded three ships: the Endeavour, the Resolution and the Adventure.

Cook's best known ship was the 'Endeavour', which departed Plymouth, England, on 26 August 1768 on Cook's expedition to observe the transit of Venus from the vantage point of Tahiti. It was on this journey that Cook circumnavigated New Zealandand the eastern coast of Australia.

On Cook's second and third journeys, he commanded the 'Resolution' and the 'Adventure'. On his third journey, Cook also had a consort ship, the Discovery, which was commanded by Charles Clerke, not by Cook himself.

Captain Cook did not discover Australia.

James Cook, who was not yet a captain when he reached Australia, did not discover Australia. He was the first known European to sight the eastern coast, and he did so in April 1770, first sighting the southeast corner which he named Point Hicks.

He claimed the eastern half of the Australian continent for England, under the name of New South Wales, in August 1770.

It may be that James Cook was the first to have direct communication with the Aborigines, but he was not the first to meet them.

Willem Jansz/Janszoon was a Dutchman who was seeking new trade routes and trade associates. Commanding the Duyfken, he became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia's shores on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula, on 26 February 1606. However, during hostilities with the local indigenous people, Jansz lost ten of his crewmen.

Another explorer also had negative encounters with the Aborigines. When English pirate William Dampier landed on Australia's far northwest coast in 1688, he made quite a few rather derogatory comments about Australia and its people, referring to the Aborigines as "the miserablest people in the world". They were apparently rather hostile to Dampier and his crew.

Captain James Cook was killed in 1779 by the natives of Hawaii and his body dragged away to be cut up and roasted. Some time later his remains were given to the British Navy for burial at sea.

Captain Cook was not eaten by the Hawaiian natives, he was given an elaborate, if not grotesque, funerary ritual involving disembowelment similar to the Egyptian Pharoahs, the flesh removed by baking, and the bones cleaned similar to European Saints. His heart was divided among the tribal chiefs and eaten, and his bones distributed among tribal chiefs around the island. All this to preserve him as a religious icon, as the natives had held him in high regard, even though they had killed him. Some of Cook's remains were returned to the crew for burial at sea.

The story of him being eaten by the natives is very unlikely as the Hawaiian natives of that time did not indulge cannibalism.

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 his first journey, departing in 1768, he commanded the 'Endeavour' on an expedition to chart the transit of Venus. 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 and recommendation which convinced the authorities to colonise the Australian continent with convicts. It was also on this journey that Cook claimed Australia and New Zealand for the British empire.
• 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. 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.
• Because his death in Hawaii was at the end of a brilliant career he became a part of the lore and legend of British seamanship. Cook had worked his way up from ordinary merchant seaman to Royal Navy Master and Commander, had proven that Australia was a continent, circumnavigated New Zealand, mapped Newfoundland and searched for the Northwest Passage. He had earned his reputation.

Captain James Cook did not actually discover any countries. Contrary to popular opinion, James Cook did NOT discover Australia, nor New Zealand.

On his first journey, departing in 1768, he commanded the 'Endeavour' on an expedition to chart the transit of Venus. 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 discoveredby 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. It must be noted that Australia was not the "great southern continent" that was believed to exist - hence why Cook was sent out a second time to try to find such a land.

On his third journey, commencing in 1776, Cook visited and named the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii. This was the main region he "discovered", whilst Australia and New Zealand were the main regions he explored.

James Cook made three major journeys.

• Cook's first voyage extended from August 1768 to July 1771.
• His second voyage was from July 1772 to July 1775.
• The third voyage was July 1776 until Cook's untimely death in February 1779.