Captain Cook killed in Hawaii - Feb 14, 1779 - HISTORY.com Captain Cook killed in Hawaii Share this: Captain Cook killed in Hawaii Author Captain Cook killed in Hawaii URL Publisher A+E Networks On February 14, 1779, Captain James Cook, the great English explorer and navigator, is murdered by natives of Hawaii during his third visit to the Pacific island group. In 1768, Cook, a surveyor in the Royal Navy, was commissioned a lieutenant in command of the HMS Endeavor and led an expedition that took scientists to Tahiti to chart the course of the planet Venus. In 1771, he returned to England, having explored the coast of New Zealand and Australia and circumnavigated the globe. Beginning in 1772, he commanded a major mission to the South Pacific and during the next three years explored the Antarctic region, charted the New Hebrides, and discovered New Caledonia. In 1776, Cook sailed from England again as commander of the HMS Resolution and Discovery, and in January 1778 he made his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands.

He may have been the first European to ever visit the island group, which he named the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his patrons, John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich. Cook and his crew were welcomed by the Hawaiians, who were fascinated by the Europeans’ ships and their use of iron. Cook provisioned his ships by trading the metal, and his sailors traded iron nails for sex. The ships then made a brief stop at Ni’ihau and headed north to look for the western end of a northwest passage from the North Atlantic to the Pacific. Almost one year later, Cook’s two ships returned to the Hawaiian Islands and found a safe harbor in Hawaii’s Kealakekua Bay. It is suspected that the Hawaiians attached religious significance to the first stay of the Europeans on their islands. In Cook’s second visit, there was no question of this phenomenon. Kealakekua Bay was considered the sacred harbor of Lono, the fertility god of the Hawaiians, and at the time of Cook’s arrival the locals were engaged in a festival dedicated to Lono. Cook and his compatriots were welcomed as gods and for the next month exploited the Hawaiians’ good will.

After one of the crewmen died, exposing the Europeans as mere mortals, relations became strained. On February 4, 1779, the British ships sailed from Kealakekua Bay, but rough seas damaged the foremast of the Resolution, and after only a week at sea the expedition was forced to return to Hawaii. The Hawaiians greeted Cook and his men by hurling rocks; they then stole a small cutter vessel from the Discovery. Negotiations with King Kalaniopuu for the return of the cutter collapsed after a lesser Hawaiian chief was shot to death and a mob of Hawaiians descended on Cook’s party. The captain and his men fired on the angry Hawaiians, but they were soon overwhelmed, and only a few managed to escape to the safety of the Resolution. Captain Cook himself was killed by the mob. A few days later, the Englishmen retaliated by firing their cannons and muskets at the shore, killing some 30 Hawaiians. The Resolution and Discovery eventually returned to England.

Related Videos The Geographic Adventures of Captain Cook - 1728-1779 Captain James Cook The Geographic Adventures of Captain Cook - 1728-1779 Detail of bronze statue Captain James Cook by sculptor Thomas Woolner 1879 in Hyde Park in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images By Matt Rosenberg Updated February 19, 2016. James Cook was born in 1728 in Marton, England. His father was a Scottish migrant farm worker who allowed James to apprentice on coal carrying boats at the age of eighteen. While working in the North Sea, Cook spent his free time learning math and navigation. This led to his appointment as mate. Searching for something more adventurous, in 1755 he volunteered for the British Royal Navy and took part in the Seven Years War and was an instrumental part of the surveying of the St. Lawrence River, which helped in the capture of Quebec from the French. Cook's First Voyage Following the war, Cook's skill at navigation and interest in astronomy made him the perfect candidate to lead an expedition planned by the Royal Society and Royal Navy to Tahiti to observe the infrequent passage of Venus across the face of the sun.

Precise measurements of this event were needed worldwide in order to determine the accurate distance between the earth and sun . Cook set sail from England in August, 1768 on the Endeavor. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge His first stop was Rio de Janeiro , then the Endeavor proceeded west to Tahiti where camp was established and the transit of Venus was measured. After the stop in Tahiti, Cook had orders to explore and claim possessions for Britain. He charted New Zealand and the east coast of Australia (known as New Holland at the time). From there he proceeded to the East Indies (Indonesia) and across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. It was an easy voyage between Africa and home; arriving in July, 1771. Cook's Second Voyage The Royal Navy promoted James Cook to Captain following his return and had a new mission for him, to find Terra Australis Incognita, the unknown southern land. In the 18th century, it was believed that there was much more land south of the equator than had already been discovered.

Cook's first voyage did not disprove claims of a huge landmass near the South Pole between New Zealand and South America . Two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure left in July, 1772 and headed to Cape Town just in time for the southern summer. Captain James Cook proceeded south from Africa and turned around after encountering large amounts of floating pack ice (he came within 75 miles of Antarctica). He then sailed to New Zealand for the winter and in summer proceeded south again past the Antarctic Circle (66.5° South). By circumnavigating the southern waters around Antarctica, he indisputably determined that there was no habitable southern continent. During this voyage he also discovered several island chains in the Pacific Ocean . After Captain Cook arrived back in Britain in July, 1775, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and received their highest honor for his geographic exploration. Soon Cook's skills would again be put to use. Cook's Third Voyage The Navy wanted Cook to determine if there was a Northwest Passage , a mythical waterway which would allow sailing between Europe and Asia across the top of North America.

Cook set out in July of 1776 and rounded the southern tip of Africa and headed east across the Indian Ocean . He passed between the North and South islands of New Zealand (through Cook Strait) and towards the coast of North America. He sailed along the coast of what would become Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska and proceeded through the Bering Straight. His navigation of the Bering Sea was halted by the impassible Arctic ice. Upon yet again discovering that something did not exist, he continued his voyage. Captain James Cook's last stop was in February, 1779 at the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) where he was killed in a fight with islanders over the theft of a boat. Cook's explorations dramatically increased European knowledge of the world. As a ship captain and skilled cartographer , he filled in many gaps on world maps. His contributions to eighteenth century science helped propel further exploration and discovery for many generations. BBC - History - British History in depth: Captain Cook: Explorer, Navigator and Pioneer Print this page The early years The three major voyages of discovery of Captain James Cook provided his European masters with unprecedented information about the Pacific Ocean, and about those who lived on its islands and shores.

His achievements were the more remarkable because of his humble origins in an agricultural labouring family, from Marton, North Yorkshire. ... he intended to go not only 'farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go'. Cook first went to sea at the age of 18. He spent ten years working in the coal trade of the east coast of England - with its shoreline of treacherous, shifting shoals, uncharted shallows, and difficult harbours. In 1755 he joined the Royal Navy, and within two years passed his master's examination to qualify for the navigation and handling of a royal ship. He gained surveying experience in North American waters during the Seven Years War - as Britain and France fought for supremacy in North America - and spent the first years of peace between 1763 and 1767 charting the fog-shrouded coastline of Newfoundland. During those years he gained a practical training in mathematics and astronomy, and steadily accumulated the technical skills needed to make an effective explorer.

The following years were to show that in addition he possessed those less tangible qualities, of leadership, determination and ambition, which made him the outstanding explorer of the 18th century. As he wrote, he intended to go not only 'farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go'. Top The first Pacific voyage Cook's first voyage (1768-71) was a collaborative venture under the auspices of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. The original intention was to organise a scientific voyage to observe the transit of the planet Venus from Tahiti, and this was supplemented by instructions to search for the great southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita, whose location had intrigued and baffled European navigators and projectors since the 16th century. Captain Cook's voyage around New Zealand and the east coast of Australia © With Lieutenant Cook (as he was at that time) sailed the botanist Joseph Banks, the astronomer Charles Green, and a small retinue of scientific assistants and artists. Cook's ship, the Endeavour, was a bluff-bowed Whitby collier chosen for her strength, shallow draught, and storage capacity.

Although the ship was to change, the type did not; the Resolution of the second and third voyages was of the same build, and even came from the same shipyard as the Endeavour, to whose qualities, wrote Cook, 'those on board owe their Preservation. Hence I was enabled to prosecute Discoveries in those Seas so much longer than any other Man ever did or could do.' ... Cook had put more than 5,000 miles of previously unknown coastline on the map. Cook sailed first to Tahiti to carry out those astronomical observations that were the initial reason for the voyage, before turning south where, his instructions told him, 'there is reason to imagine that a Continent or Land of great extent, may be found.' After reaching latitude 40°S, without sight of land, he sailed west to New Zealand, whose coasts he charted in a little over six months to show that they were not part of a southern continent. From there Cook pointed the Endeavour towards the unexplored eastern parts of New Holland (the name given by the Dutch to Australia in the 17th century). Cook sailed north along the shores of present-day New South Wales and Queensland, charting as he went.

After a hair-raising escape from the dangers of the Great Barrier Reef he reached the northern tip of Australia at Cape York, where he annexed the east coast on the grounds that it was terra nullius, no person's land. He then sailed through the Torres Strait, so settling the dispute as to whether New Holland and New Guinea were joined. With only one ship Cook had put more than 5,000 miles of previously unknown coastline on the map. The twin islands of New Zealand, the east coast of Australia and the Torres Strait had at last emerged from the mists of uncertainty. Top The second Pacific voyage Cook's second voyage (1772-75) was the logical complement to what had been explored, and left unexplored, on his first. Again there were scientists and artists on board, and for the first time chronometers, one of which was Kendall's copy of John Harrison's famous no. 4 marine chronometer. This superb instrument kept accurate time throughout the buffeting it endured on the long voyage, showing that a practical solution to the problem of determining longitude at sea had been found.

In his three years away, the newly-promoted Captain Cook disposed of the imagined southern continent, reached closer to the South Pole than any previous navigator, and touched on many lands - Tahiti and New Zealand again, and for the first time Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands, Tonga and the New Hebrides. ... on his two voyages he had laid down the essentials of the modern map of the South Pacific. Most of these places had been sighted by explorers on earlier expeditions, so that even by conventional definitions Cook did not 'discover' them for Europe. His contribution was to bring order to confusion, to replace vagueness and uncertainty with a scrupulous accuracy. He had, he explained, put an end to the search for the great southern continent, 'which has at time ingrossed the attention of some of the Maritime Powers for near two Centuries past and the Geographers of all ages.' But his achievement was more than this, for on his two voyages he had laid down the essentials of the modern map of the South Pacific. Top The third Pacific voyage On his return from his second voyage, Cook found that his fame had spread beyond naval circles.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded its Copley Gold Medal, was painted by Nathaniel Dance, dined with James Boswell, and was described in the House of Lords as 'the first navigator in Europe'. Brief thoughts of retirement were replaced by a determination to return to the Pacific. Cook's third and final voyage (1776-80) had its own logic in that it took him to the North Pacific in an effort to solve a geographical mystery as old as the southern continent - the question of the existence of a navigable north west passage. ... in a single season Cook put the main outline of the coast of north west America on the maps ... As he approached the north west coast of America in 1778, Cook made the major discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, the northernmost outliers of Polynesia. He spent that summer in hazardous exploration along the American coast from Vancouver Island to the Bering Strait, searching in vain for the wide strait leading to an ice-free Arctic Ocean, as indicated on the speculative maps of the period.

Although he found no north west passage, in a single season Cook put the main outline of the coast of north west America on the maps, determined the shape of Alaska well beyond the Bering Strait, and closed the gap between the Spanish coastal probes from the south and those of the Russians from Kamchatka. Did one of Cook's temper tantrums seal his fate? © It was to be his last achievement, for the following winter he was killed on his return to the Hawaiian Islands. His death at Kealakekua Bay on 14 February 1779 has remained a source of scholarly controversy. During the weeks after his arrival Cook seems to have been regarded by the Hawaiians as the god Lono, bringer of light, peace and plenty, for he had arrived at the time of makahiki, Lono's festival. Cook continued to conform to the sacred calendar of the islanders by sailing away from Hawaii as makahiki came to an end. However, the Resolution got damaged at sea, so that Cook was forced to return to the bay to repair his ship out of the correct season, thus making himself a violator of sacred customs.

It was noted that there was an eerie atmosphere among the islanders following his return, and Cook's death after an argument on the beach was predictable if not preordained. Not all accept this interpretation. Some scholars see Cook's 'deification' as the product of a Western, imperialist tradition, and they explain his death as being the result of a row caused by one of his uncontrollable outbursts of temper, which had become increasingly noticeable during the voyage. Top Consequences The circumstances of Cook's death were a reminder that one of his tasks was 'to observe the Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives'. This was easier said than done, for successive migrations across the Pacific had left societies organised in overlapping layers and groups, and the strained nature of the contact between Europeans and non-Europeans made understanding between them all the more difficult. ... the coming of venereal disease, alcohol and firearms brought a depressing train of consequences to the islands. Cook and his fellow navigators of the period were for the most part humane and moderate commanders. Even so, the Europeans were intruders, emerging by the score from their towering vessels, appearing and disappearing without warning, violating sacred sites.

An inescapable tension hung over the encounters, sometimes dissipated by individual contacts or trade, but often erupting into violence and death. Although the relationship between Polynesians and Europeans was not the one-sided affair of some portrayals, in the longer term the coming of venereal disease, alcohol and firearms brought a depressing train of consequences to the islands. Cook set new standards in the extent and accuracy of his surveys, but to see his voyages simply in terms of geographical knowledge would be to miss their broader significance. The observations of Cook and his colleagues played an important role in natural history, astronomy, oceanography, philology and much else. Above all, the voyages helped to give birth in the next century to the new disciplines of ethnology and anthropology. In practical ways, too, Cook set new standards, especially in terms of health. There were no recorded deaths from scurvy on any of his voyages, and few from natural causes generally - except during the Endeavour's disastrous stay at Batavia in 1770, when 30 members of the crew, who had been remarkably healthy until then, died of fever and dysentery.

Specialists have corrected the popular view that Cook discovered the cure for scurvy - rather he applied with unusual thoroughness all suggested remedies. He ensured cleanliness and ventilation in the crew's quarters, and insisted on an appropriate diet that included cress, sauerkraut, and a kind of orange extract. Even so, his epitaph in a medical journal claimed that Cook's success in keeping his crews alive 'added more to his fame, and is supposed to have given a more useful lesson to maritime nations, than all the discoveries he ever made'. Captain James Cook | British Navigator and Explorer Home: Library: Cook, James “I now once more hoisted English Coulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third, took possession of the whole Eastern Coast [of New Holland] from the above Latitude down to this place by the name of New South Wales.” - JAMES COOK James Cook British Navigator and Explorer, 1728 - 1779 James Cook was born on October 27, 1728 in Marton, (near modern Middlesborough), Yorkshire, Britain. Cook commanded three voyages of discovery for Great Britain, and sailed around the world twice.

He was the first British ship commander to circumnavigate the globe in a lone ship. Cook was also the first British commander to prevent the outbreak of scurvy by regulating his crew’s diet, serving them citrus fruit and sauerkraut to prevent the disease. He is considered one of the world’s greatest explorers. Cook was an apprentice to a shipping company at age 15, and joined the British Navy in 1755 at the age of 27. In 1768, the British Admiralty appointed Cook, then a Lieutenant, to lead a scientific expedition that would sail to the island of Tahiti in the south Pacific to establish an astronomical observatory. Their mission was to measure an eclipse of the sun by Venus . The Admiralty selected Cook because of his proven skills as a navigator, and for his interest in astronomy. He set out on August 12, 1768 in His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour , arriving in Tahiti on April 13, 1769.

On June 3, 1769, Cook successfully measured the time it took Venus to transit the sun, and by doing so obtained data that would help scientists to accurately determine the size of the solar system. Cook was also issued secret orders to seek the great southern continent (“Terres Australes Incognita” or unknown lands in the south) that geographers long believed kept the world in balance. In Cook’s day, the discovery of new lands often lead to great wealth for the nation claiming those lands. His orders were secret because the Admiralty did not want Britain’s international competitors to know about this aspect of Cook’s expedition. Cook searched for Terres Australes to no avail, determining that no such great continent existed. In October 1769, he was the first European to land on New Zealand. The Islands were sighted previously by Dutch Captain Able Tasman in 1642, 127 years before Cook’s landing. New Zealand is named after the Dutch province of Zeelandt (meaning Sea Land). In 1770, Cook conducted a comprehensive survey of the eastern coast of New Holland (now Australia), the part of the continent the Dutch had not technically mapped.

On August 22, 1770, he claimed those lands for Great Britain. The name “Australia” was not used until the early 1800s. On Cook’s second journey he sailed farther south than any other European. He circled Antarctica in his famous ship Resolution , but the ice surrounding the continent prevented the sighting of land. The existence of the Antarctica remained unproved until 1840. Upon his return to England in 1775, Cook was promoted to Captain and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. In July of 1776, Cook set sail on his third voyage, again in Resolution . His mission was to look for a possible northern sea route between Europe and Asia. In 1778, Cook became the first know European to reach the Hawaiian Islands. Later in 1778, he sailed up the northwest coast of North America, and was the first European to land on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He continued up the coast through the Bering Strait, and entered the Arctic Ocean. Great walls of ice blocked the expedition, so Cook headed back for the Hawaiian Islands.

On February 14, 1779, Cook was stabbed to death by Hawaiian natives while investigating a theft of a boat by an islander. The expedition arrived back in England in October of 1780. If you are aware of books, movies, databases, web sites or other information sources about James Cook or related subjects, or if you would like to comment, please contact us . Resource Menu Captain Cook discovers Hawaii and Hawaiian Native Society Discovers Ancient Hawaii A View of Ancient Hawaiian Tribal Society Before European Contact. Captain James Cook discovered, or rather rediscovered the Hawaiian Islands (Which he named the Sandwich Islands) basically through luck. The Pacific Ocean is vast, extremely vast, in fact is the earths largest geological feature. An island group can easily be lost in these great expanses, and in fact they were lost for decades at a time to navigators. Imagine trying to spot an airplane at high altitudes in the sky and you might get a slight idea of the enormity of the Pacific. On Magellan's voyage across the Pacific from the southern tip of South America he missed every island group until reaching the Philippines months later. That set the trend for the next 250 years of Pacific exploration.

In 1778, 257 years after the death of Ferdinand Magellan, Captain James Cook landed on the shores of Hawaii. Capt. Cook was an exceptional navigator, cartographer and captian from a nation of explorers. This was his second voyage into the Pacific and his country men already regarded him as a national hero. On this voyage he was leading two ships North to find the elusive North West Passage and to map the Pacific Northwest, he Captained the HMS Resolve while Captain Charles Clerke captained the HMS Discovery. When he sighted the Hawaiian Islands, which he eventually named the Sandwich Islands after the First Lord of the Admiralty, it was a lucky break, as supplies were needed for the long voyage. Three islands appeared initially, each with high wooded peaks and strange glimmering white towers peering up through the forest canopy. The HMS Resolve and the HMS Discovery anchored off of Kauai Island and the Hawaiian natives ventured out in their canoes to see this strange site. At first they were nervous but they had not come out with weapons accept a few rocks. These rocks however were tossed into the water once Captain Cook showed no signs of aggression. Capt.

Cook then lowered gifts of brass down to them on ropes and in exchange they sent up baskets of fish. Two branches of great sailors from the human race had come together again after tens of thousands of years of separation. The Hawaiians and the English took a moment to absorb this strange, and unexpected meeting then Captain Cook sailed on looking for a suitable harbor. Besides being one of the world's foremost explorers and captains, Cook was one of its authorities on relations with Polynesian natives. He had extensive contact with them throughout the South Pacific, staying with them for months at a time and having several stay aboard his ship as guides. Cook was interested in many of the same questions that Polynesian/Hawaiian science is interested in today. Where did the native islanders come from? How long ago? And how did they travel such great distances. Cook was the first to correctly assume the islanders of the Polynesian triangle where all related, or at least the first to take credit for this speculation. Captain Cook believed the tribal natives of the Polynesia where generally an intelligent, resourceful and healthy stock (although Cook did say they were less intelligent than other Polynesian native groups he had met).

Hawaiians could be cunning, manipulative and out right treacherous as well as kind and generous, and when they were deceitful it was usually disguised behind the more typical warm Hawaiian hospitality. The ancient Hawaiians shared another trait with tribal Polynesians of the Pacific, they were thieves, and this would prove to be a trait of fate to Captian James Cook. After Captain Cooks initial contact he sailed along the shoreline until an appropriate anchorage was located. From there he could see many huts along the beach and another couple scores in the hills above the village, possibly one hundred total. Once again canoes came out to greet the Resolve and the Discovery. The Hawaiian natives came aboard this time and were quite timid. Some bowed down, an action Cook felt to be appropriate. They also inquired where they should sit and if it was appropriate to spit and did not appear to have been aboard a ship before. Soon however the awe inspired by the new encounter faded and they became curious, particularly about metal objects. The Hawaiians seemed to feel they could take whatever they wanted and Cooks crew had to stay on constant guard against theft.

This turned into a game of sorts for the Hawaiians and eventually a daring Hawaiian jumped overboard with a meat cleaver to a waiting canoe. An Irishman, Lieutenant Williamson, then gave chase in the Resolves dinghy and fired shots over the thief's head frightening other nearby villagers enough so they jumped into the water. However, the thief made it to the shoreline and escaped. Lieutenant Williamson realized chasing him inland would be futile and set about landing in order to secure a supply of fresh water. Lieutenant Williamson and a team made landfall soon after the theft of the cleaver. However a large, rambunctious crowd soon surrounded their vessel and although not hostile they almost capsized the boat. The Hawaiian villagers grabbed at everything, including the muskets of the Englishmen. Most were satisfied with a nail or two, but others were more persistent. One Hawaiian grabbed a hold of a pole with a hook on the end and refused to let go. After attempts to get him to let go for nails and attempting to tug the hook out of his hands, Lieutenant Williamson decided he had no choice but to use firearms. He then shot the man, who was then dragged by crowd onto the beach as he bled profusely.

However, this did not fully disperse the crowd and Williamson decided it would be best to return to the Resolution. Later that day Captain Cook himself decided he would go a shore with an armed contingent of marines. When he stepped ashore the Hawaiian villagers obviously recognized him as important and they began prostrating themselves. Only after encouragement did the natives stand up and Cook got down to business. After making sure that fresh water was being collected Cook decided to take a tour. He walked through the village, noting their use of irrigation for cultivation of a variety of products. They cultivated taro, large yams, coconuts and stands of Kapa Trees. Tribal Hawaiians used Kapa Trees to make their clothing and cloths. It also occurred to him that the population seemed to be below the supportable level an island with such abundant natural resources. His explanation for this was warfare; on his tour he had seen several caches of weapons. About a half mile into to his trek Captain Cook came to one of the mysterious white towers that he had first sited from the ship. It stood on a raised stone platform and although it was 50 feet tall he could see even larger ones ahead.

The tower itself was constructed of wood and covered with white Kapa cloth. At the base of it stood a long hut where nobles wear buried. Carved wooden tiki statues of Hawaiian gods stood vigil over the graves with food offerings at their feet. The kahunas present pointed out another gravesite where four sculls lay, these graves marked wear the kapu (taboo) sacrificial victims lay. Human sacrifice was not new to Cook; he had seen it before amongst Polynesian natives in Tahiti and the Society Islands. Human sacrifice was obviously common in Hawaii as well. After viewing the tower, graves and tiki god idols Cook returned to the village on the beach. Once the Hawaiians realized that theft would be ineffective they began bringing out trade goods like vegetables, fish, kapa cloth and pigs, in return pieces of iron wear traded. Metal was highly prized by the Hawaiians despite the fact that they didn't have any mining or metal working skills. However, the native Hawaiian villagers new what metal was and Capt. Cook later found that the village had a few small pieces.

It is possible that the tight-lipped Spaniards had landed in the Hawaiian Islands introducing metal to the ancient Hawaiians sometime in the previous 250 years they had sailed the Pacific, but Cook found evidence to the contrary in that the Hawaiians had not been exposed to venereal diseases. No claims have emerged concerning Spaniards landing in Hawaii since. The metal most likely came from wrecked Spanish ships or flotsam washing up on the Hawaiian shores. The Hawaiians themselves reported that the two small pieces came from the sea. The Hawaiian women were fascinated with the European sailors and attempted to seduce them whenever an opportunity arose. Captain Cook felt a certain responsibility in preventing their success in this endeavor due to the fact that the Hawaiians had not been exposed to venereal disease and he did not want to be responsible for it's introduction. After several days of trading both parties had begun to run low on trade goods and Captain Cook decided to weigh anchor he headed out to sea. Captain Clerke waited behind and was visited while he waited a double hauled canoe approached his vessel. The arrival of the English ships had attracted people from around the island and the news had reached their Chief (Alii in Hawaiian).

Upon his approach the commoners either jumped off the side of the boat or prostrated themselves on the deck. The chief although friendly, was accompanied by a stern group of bodyguards who would not allow him out of their site or to go below deck. These warriors were put on edge when Captain Clerke greeted their chief by grabbing his sholdier, but the chief was calm and presented Clerke with a gift of a carved wooden bowl with tiki god faces carved into the handles. This tiki bowl would be used in ceremonies to drink a mild hallucinogenic drink called awa. After gifts were exchanged Clerke was invited back to shore but he had to decline since he was scheduled to rendezvous with Captian Cook and the H.M.S. Resolve at sea. The stern warriors then carefully led the disappointed but respectful chief back on to his double hauled canoe. This was done most carefully, ï¿½as if a drop of water would kill himï¿½, wrote Clerke. The Resolve and Discovery met at sea then continued their exploration. This time landing on the island of Niihau.

The surf was to ruff for the English sailors to head in to shore, the Hawaiians however risked it with their canoes and pushed on to the ship. The next day a team from the boat was able to make it to shore. Once again the English established relations with the local population and trade for food and supplies began in the same pattern as at Kauai. A problem occurred however, the away team (I'm aware this is a Star Trek term, I feel it is appropriate due to the fact that they are visiting another culture from a ship) could not make it back to the Resolve and was forced to spend the night. Cook had wanted to avoid this, as he new the temptations of the Hawaiians would prove too much and the Hawaiians would be exposed to venereal disease. This proved to be beyond his control, the rough surf forced them to stay ashore out of Cooks watchful eye until the weather calmed and they could return. Captain Cook had a mission, he was sent to explore and map the West coast of North America. His ships were now fully supplied and so the sails were hoisted.

The open ocean would provide Cook a chance to ponder the many things he did and did not understand about the native Hawaiians. As Cook sailed off to the East he left behind a Hawaii that would be forever changed, his visit would be the end beganing of the end for their ancient society. It could also be said that Cooks discovery of Hawaii was the beganing of the end for him as well. The story of Cooks return to Hawaii and his death at the hands of their weapons will be posted soon in The End of Cook. Mahalo! 6. – European discovery of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand Memorials to Captain Cook James Cook is a key figure in the history of New Zealand. On his first voyage he mapped the outline of the country’s coast so thoroughly and accurately that all the remaining voyages of discovery, including his own second and third voyages, had merely to fill in the detail and correct minor errors. New Zealand’s people, flora and fauna Cook discovered New Zealand in more than a geographical sense. Having spent a total of 328 days on the coast, he and those with him left a vivid and comprehensive visual and written record of the country’s natural history.

Few lands newly discovered by Europeans have been so comprehensively documented. The gentleman naturalist Joseph Banks travelled with Cook on the Endeavour during its 1768–71 voyage. Wealthy enough to indulge his interests, Banks paid for another botanist, Daniel Solander, and three draughtsmen or artists to join the expedition. Banks’s and Solander’s collections of plants and their descriptions laid the foundations for modern New Zealand botany. Although Banks declined to accompany Cook on his second voyage, he maintained his interest in New Zealand until his death in 1820. Cook’s first voyage provided Europe with its first substantial knowledge of the Māori people. The observations of Cook himself, and of others on the Endeavour, are still valuable sources of information about Māori life at the time of first European contact. Māori and European contact Cook’s first landing place at Gisborne has been celebrated by one historian as the point where, ‘for the first time, the two great streams of race and culture in New Zealand, Polynesian and European, came into confluence’. 1 Cook had been instructed to cultivate a friendship and alliance with the inhabitants of any new land he discovered.

He is credited with showing forbearance, restraint and a depth of understanding (he had a more moderate view of cannibalism, for example, than most of his crew) that put initial relations between Māori and Europeans on a sound footing, despite episodes of bloodshed on the first and second voyages. A line can be drawn from Cook’s first voyage to the Treaty of Waitangi. In his instructions to Cook, the Earl of Morton, president of the Royal Society, stated that any natives he encountered were to be regarded as ‘the natural, and … legal possessors of the several Regions they inhabit’, and that their voluntary consent would be needed before any of their lands were occupied by Europeans. Cook is held in higher regard in New Zealand than in Hawaii, where there is a stronger sense that he was responsible for the fatal impact of imperialism on Pacific peoples. In Hawaii, the memory of how many Hawaiians were killed by Cook’s men after his death has coloured perceptions of Cook himself. The Māori perspective If Europeans viewed Cook’s discoveries as momentous, for many Māori it must have seemed only a brief interlude in the normal course of life.

Once their initial astonishment had passed, Māori dealt with the newcomers much as they dealt with Māori of other tribal groups. Māori understanding of Cook’s arrival was inevitably partial, although there was certainly some exchange of information between Māori and Cook’s men. On board the Endeavour was a chief and priest, Tupaia, whom Banks had added to his retinue during the ship’s stay in Tahiti. Because of the similarities of the Tahitian and Māori languages, Tupaia was able to translate spoken exchanges between European and Māori. But even with Tupaia’s mediation, misunderstandings arose. Many were over the nature of trade and exchange between the two groups. Problems also arose when some crew from the Endeavour inadvertently broke sacred restrictions Māori had placed on some areas. Tupaia, translator of Māori In Tahiti Cook signed a Tahitian, Tupaia, onto his crew. In New Zealand, Tupaia was able to serve as a translator of Māori, a language similar to his own. When Tupaia died at Batavia on 20 December 1770, Cook partly blamed it on his character.

Despite being a ‘Shrewd Sensible, Ingenious Man’, he wrote in his journal, Tupaia was also ‘proud and obstinate which … tended much to promote the deceases [diseases] which put a period to his life’. 2 Polynesia Cook and his companions also discovered Polynesia, although the name did not become current until the 19th century. The three voyages touched all three corners of the Polynesian triangle – Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand – and Cook and his associates recognised that ‘the same nation’ was spread over a vast extent of ocean. The scientist Johann Reinhold Forster, who travelled on the second voyage, identified what became known as the Austronesian language group. New Zealand and Britain Cook’s discoveries forged New Zealand’s later links with Britain. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries a number of French explorers were active in the Pacific. Cook’s instructions from the British Admiralty authorised him to annex ‘convenient situations’ on any ‘great continent’ he might discover.

At Mercury Bay on 15 November 1769, and at Queen Charlotte Sound on 30 January 1770, he made proclamations which helped ensure that Britain, and not another European power such as France, became New Zealand’s mother country.

Question: What island did Captain Cook discover, before being killed by the people who already lived there?
Answer: Hawaii