Cook’s Pacific Voyages

British navigator Captain James Cook led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific Ocean. On the first (1768-1771), Cook explored Tahiti and charted the coasts of New Zealand and Australia. On the second (1772-1775), he became the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle, visited several islands never seen before by Europeans, and proved that a large, habitable southern continent did not exist. On Cook’s last voyage (1776-1779), he explored the west coast of North America in search of the Northwest Passage and visited the Hawaiian Islands, where he was killed in a skirmish with islanders. Cook’s crew made another attempt to find the Northwest Passage and visited China before returning to England by way of the Indian Ocean.

Appears in these articles:

Cook, Captain James; Exploration, Geographic; Cook Islands

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