James Cook Biography

Birth of James Cook

Appointed Commander of the HMS Endeavour in the south Pacific

Makes a detailed survey of the east coast of Australia

Names Botany Bay

Names New South Wales

Sails around New Zealand

Cook's expedition observes the transit of Venus from Tahiti as part of an international effort to determine the astronomical unit.

Discovers Easter Island

Discovers Marquesas

Discovers New Caledonia

Discovers Norfolk Island

Sails with the Resolution & Adventure for a southern continent

Discovers the Tonga Islands

Leaves Plymouth on HMS Resolution with HMS Adventure to search the far southern oceans during his second voyage

Cook 1st visits Tonga

Continues probing the southern ice after crossing the Antarctic Circle, disproving many hopes for an easily habitable southern continent

1st person to cross the Antarctic circle

First recorded crossing of the Antarctic Circle during Cook's second voyage

Reaches about 71 degrees 10 minutes south, farther south than any recorded navigator before him, but finds only ice and no temperate southern continent

Sights South Georgia and sails around it, mistakenly thinking it may be connected to Antarctica; names Cape Disappointment at the southern end of the island

Maps the Bering Straits & attempts to look for the North West Passage

Visits the Cook Islands & Hawaii

Visits the Cook Islands & Hawaii

Maps the Bering Straits & attempts to look for the North West Passage

Returns to Hawaii from the North West Passage & killed in a scuffle with the Islanders

Visits Tonga for a 2nd time. Impressed by the amiability of the people, names the islands the Friendly Islands

Discovers Hawaii, names them the Sandwich Islands after Lord Sandwich

Stabbed to death by the natives of Kealakekua Bay in the Hawaiian Islands