page_title: History of Norfolk Island
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: History of Norfolk Island / Early history
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 1776: James Cook English: Official portrait of Captain James Cook Suomi: Kapteeni James Cookin virallinen muotokuva. National Maritime Museum, Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta. Français&#160;: James Cook par Nathaniel Dance. Italiano: Ritratto di James Cook 日本語: クックの公式肖像画　海軍博物館（ロンドン）所蔵 Nederlands: James Cook na zijn terugkeer van zijn tweede expeditie in de Stille Zuidzee Polski: Kapitan James Cook Català: Retrat de l'explorador britànic James Cook Lietuvių: Džeimso Kuko portretas 中文: 庫克船長畫像。現存於英國海事博物館。 Русский: Портрет Дж. Кука, 25 май 1776 года. Художник Натаниэл Дэнс Gagana Samoa: Ata o James Cook, 25 Me, 1776. (le tusiata o Nathaniel Dance) Čeština: Kapitán James Cook, 25. května 1776. (oficiální portrét) Español: Retrato oficial de James Cook
context_page_description: The history of Norfolk Island dates back to the fourteenth or fifteenth century when it was settled by Polynesian seafarers.
context_section_description: Norfolk Island was first settled by East Polynesian seafarers either from the Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand or from the North Island of New Zealand. They arrived in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and survived for several generations before disappearing. Their main village site has been excavated at Emily Bay, and they also left behind stone tools, the Polynesian rat, and banana trees as evidence of their sojourn. The harakeke (Phormium tenax), or New Zealand flax plant, was brought to Norfolk Island either from New Zealand directly or from Raoul Island (Sunday Island) by these Polynesian settlers. The so-called flax is, in fact, no relation of the European flax but is related to the daylily and other genera within the sub-family Hemerocallidaceae. The final fate of the early settlers remains a mystery.
  The first European known to have sighted the island was Captain James Cook, in 1774, on his second voyage to the South Pacific on HMS Resolution. He named it after the Duchess of Norfolk (c. 1712 – 1773). The Duchess was dead at the time of the island's sighting by Cook, but Cook had set out from England in 1772 and could not have known of her May 1773 death.
  Cook went ashore on Tuesday 11 October 1774, and is said to have been impressed with the tall straight trees and New Zealand flax plants, which, although not related to the Northern Hemisphere flax plants after which they are named, produce fibres of economic importance. He took samples back to Britain and reported on their potential uses for the Royal Navy.
  Andrew Kippis as the biographer of this voyage puts it as follows:
  As the Resolution pursued her course from New Caledonia, land was discovered, which, on a nearer approach, was found to be an island, of good height, and five leagues in circuit. Captain Cook named it Norfolk Isle, in honour of the noble family of Howard (Fn.: It is situated in the latitude of 29° 2' 30" south, and in the longitude of 168° 16' east). It was uninhabited; and the first persons that ever set foot on it were unquestionably our English navigators. Various trees and plants were observed that are common at New Zealand; and in particular, the flax plant, which is rather more luxuriant here than in any other part of that country. The chief produce of the island is a kind of spruce pine, exceedingly straight and tall, which grows in great abundance. Such is the size of many of the trees that, breast high, they are as thick as two men can fathom. Among the vegetables of the place, the palm-cabbage afforded both a wholesome and palatable refreshment; and, indeed, proved the most agreeable repast that our people had for a considerable time enjoyed...
  At the time, Britain was heavily dependent on flax (Linum usitatissimum) (for sails) and hemp (Cannabis sp.) (for ropes) from the shores of the Baltic Sea ports. Any threat to their supply endangered Britain's sea power. The UK also relied on timbers from New England for mainmasts, and these were not supplied after the American War of Independence. The alternative source of Norfolk Island for these, (or in the case of flax and hemp, similar) supplies is argued by some historians, notably Geoffrey Blainey in Tyranny of Distance, as being a major reason for the founding of the convict settlement of New South Wales by the First Fleet in 1788.
  James Cook said that, "except for New Zealand, in no other island in the South Sea was wood and mast-timber so ready to hand".
  Sir John Call, member of Parliament and the Royal Society, and former chief engineer of the East India Company, stated the advantages of Norfolk Island in a proposal for colonisation he put to the Home Office in August 1784: "This Island has an Advantage not common to New Caledonia, New Holland and New Zealand by not being inhabited, so that no Injury can be done by possessing it to the rest of Mankind…there seems to be nothing wanting but Inhabitants and Cultivation to make it a delicious Residence. The Climate, Soil, and Sea provide everything that can be expected from them. The Timber, Shrubs, Vegetables and Fish already 
caption: James Cook
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