James Cook (\(1728\)–\(1779\)) was an English naval sailor, explorer, cartographer and discoverer, Fellow of the Royal Society and Captain of the Royal Navy. He headed \(3\) expeditions to explore the World Ocean, all of which circumnavigated the world. During these expeditions he made a number of geographical discoveries.
First trip around the world J. Cook
Barque "Endeavour"
In \(1769\) the expedition bark Endeavor (Effort) left London with the purpose of observing the passage of Venus through the Sun. Captain Cook was appointed its leader, who, together with astronomer Charles Green, was supposed to conduct research on the island of Tahiti. In January \(1769\) they rounded Cape Horn and reached the shores of Tahiti. Having landed astronomers on the island, Cook began exploring the archipelago and along the way discovered the Partnership Islands. Having gone in search of Novaya Zemlya, seen by Tasman in \(1642\), in October he approached the eastern shores of New Zealand. Cook sailed along its shores for more than three months and became convinced that these were two large islands, separated by a strait (later named after him). The hostility of the local residents did not allow him to penetrate deep into the islands.
Then he headed to the shores of Australia. In \(1770\) he approached the unknown eastern coast of the Australian mainland (called New Holland at that time). By August of the same year, Cook had reached its northern tip. He gave the name New South Wales to the entire eastern coast of the continent, and declared Australia the property of England. Cook was the first to explore and map about \(4\) thousand km of its eastern coast and almost the entire (\(2300\) km) discovered by him Great Barrier Reef.
On the mainland, Cook saw strange animals with long legs and a strong tail. These animals moved by jumping. When Cook asked the locals what these animals were called, they replied “we don’t understand,” which sounded like “kangaro” in the Aboriginal language. This is how the name appeared - kangaroo.
Cook passed through the Torres Strait to the island of Java and, rounding the cape Good Hope, \(13\) July \(1771\) returned home, having lost \(31\) a person due to tropical fever. Thanks to the diet he developed, none of the team suffered from scurvy. Cook's first circumnavigation of the world lasted little more than three years, after which he was awarded the rank of captain \(I\) rank.
J. Cook's second trip around the world
During the first expedition around the world, Cook failed to discover the large Southern Continent south of Australia. To finally find out whether this continent exists or not, the English government equipped a new expedition under the command of Captain Cook, consisting of two ships - “Resolution” (“Decision”) and “Adventure” (“Adventure”).
The ships left England in \(1772\). Having reached the Cape of Good Hope, they headed south. Soon it got colder, floating ice began to appear, and fog appeared. Having encountered a solid ice field, Cook was forced to turn east. After numerous attempts to break through to the south, Cook turned north. He came to the firm conviction that the vast land South Pole does not exist. This erroneous conclusion was refuted only in the 19th century. Russian navigators Bellingshausen and Lazarev.
"Resolution" and "Adventure" in Matavai Bay (Tahiti). Painting. \(1776\)
While sailing in the Pacific Ocean, Cook again visited the island of Tahiti, part of the Society (Partnership) archipelago, and discovered many new islands, including New Caledonia. Cook's second voyage lasted \(3\) years and \(18\) days.
J. Cook's third trip around the world
After some time, Cook accepted the offer to become the head of a new expedition, which was supposed to go from the Pacific to the Atlantic along the coast of North America. In \(1776\) he set off on his third and final voyage on the ship "Resolution" and the new ship "Discovery".
For a long time, ships sailed in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Several new islands were discovered there. Cook then headed north. Soon the ships spotted land again. They were unknown then Hawaiian Islands.
The islanders greeted the British friendly: they brought a lot of fruits and edible roots, brought in pigs, helped the sailors fill barrels with fresh water and load them into boats. Scientists - members of the expedition - went deep into the islands for their research.
From the Hawaiian Islands, the ships headed east, to the shores of America, and then went north along them. Coming out through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean, they came across solid floating ice. Cook decided to return to the Hawaiian Islands for the winter. This time the British did not get along with the local population and turned the Hawaiians against themselves. In a fierce battle, Captain Cook was killed.
"The Death of Captain Cook." Painting by Sean Linehan
James Cook's travels provided a lot of new information for the development of Earth science. He penetrated further than his predecessors into the southern latitudes. Natural scientists took part in his expeditions, collecting a variety of scientific material about the nature and population of the numerous islands he discovered. His voyages are valuable for the development of geographical science in that they refined knowledge about the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
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Captain James Cook is an English traveler and famous cartographer. He was born in 1728, into a poor family living in North Yorkshire, in the north of England. At the age of 13, he was already working alongside his father as a farm manager.
In 1745 he began working in a grocery store. But the seller soon discovered that he was completely incapable of trading. He took James to the nearest port in Whitby and introduced him to the Walker brothers, owners of several ships. This is where the biography of James Cook as a great navigator begins.
His first position was as a cabin boy at the Freelove coal miner. The ship sailed along the English coast, transporting coal. The future traveler became so interested in maritime affairs that he independently took up geometry, algebra, astronomy and navigation. His training came to an end after three years, and he began sailing with ships in the Baltic Sea. His abilities helped him quickly move up the career ladder.
James Cook's travels began when, in 1755, the Walkers invited him to become captain of their ship Friendship. But he refused, deciding to go to the Royal Navy. At this time, the British army was in full swing preparing for the Seven Years' War, and he saw great prospects for himself in this area. However, this meant starting his entire career anew - as a simple sailor. Cook was assigned as a deckhand on the Eagle and very quickly rose to mate. By 1757, he passed the exams that allowed him to control the ship himself.
Cook's brilliant career in the Royal Navy began with drawing up the fairway of the St. Lawrence River in order to ensure the passage of the British through it and the capture of Quebec, then owned by the French. He proved himself to be an excellent cartographer and navigator. In the 1760s he continued his cartography work, charting the unknown shores of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River. His work attracted the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society.
In 1756, he was assigned to go to the Pacific Ocean to observe the passage of Venus across the solar disk. The following year, Cook left the shores of England, rounded Cape Horn and by April 1759 reached the shores of Haiti, where it was planned to conduct observations. Unfortunately, for technical reasons these observations were highly inaccurate. But the navigator mapped the exact shores of New Zealand.
Then he moved on and in 1770 reached the shores of Australia. Thus, the navigator became the first European to discover a hitherto unknown continent. The discovery of Australia by James Cook was a breakthrough for England in the development of colonies and a worthy response to the Spaniards and Portuguese.
Having received a hole, the Endevior ship made an emergency stop on the Australian mainland. When the repair work was completed, Cook sent the ship along the Great Barrier Reef and soon discovered the strait between Australia and New Guinea. The expedition returned to England in 1771.
Soon after his return, he was again asked to set sail. The fact is that the British were eager to find the Southern continent, the mythical Terra Australis (Antarctica) - despite the fact that James Cook had already discovered Australia, it was assumed that there was another continent further south.
Cook was now in command of the ship Resolution. The second expedition again circumnavigated the world. The two ships sank the lowest in southern latitude, but did not reach Antarctica - supplies on the ship were running low, people were suffering from scurvy, and he had to turn back. Upon returning to England, he convinced everyone that there was no Southern Continent.
After James Cook discovered Australia in April 1770, he had one more journey ahead, his last... The explorer was tasked with finding the Northwest Passage, which probably crosses North America and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He was again entrusted with command of the Resolution ship, and Charles Klekr set off with him on the Discovery.
Since the British hid their search expeditions in every possible way, this time the pretext was the return of one resident of Tahiti, captured during the second expedition, to his homeland. During the third voyage great traveler became the first European to visit Hawaii.
From there he sailed to the West Coast of North America - this one journey by James Cook made it possible to map almost the entire coast of North America, including Alaska, which in turn filled in the gaps in the maps of Russian and Spanish explorers.
The Bering Strait seemed impassable to him, despite several attempts made. This fact completely unsettled him, he developed a stomach ache and strange behavior. For example, he forced his team to eat walrus meat, which was completely inedible. He returned to Hawaii in 1779. The return coincided with the islanders' seasonal celebrations in honor of one of the gods - and the explorer James Cook, with his ships at the ready, was perceived as a deity incarnate.
After staying on the islands for a month, the ships set out to sea again, but halfway through the journey the Resolution's foremast broke and they had to return. The return was unexpected, since the celebrations had already ended. This led to unrest among local residents. Thefts of property from the ship began. After an entire boat went missing, Cook was furious. He decided to capture the local leader and not return him until all his belongings were returned. By that time, a rumor had spread among the Hawaiians that other British had already killed one of the chiefs.
The conflict between sailors and Hawaiians that occurred on the shore led to an armed clash. Here the biography of James Cook ends - when the British began to retreat, he turned his back to the crowd, was hit on the head with a spear, fell and was beaten to death. The Hawaiians took his body with them. As a sign of retaliation, the British bombed and burned a Hawaiian village. In response to the demand to hand over the captain's body, they were returned only a few pieces of meat and the head of the great navigator.
The death of James Cook was a great loss for the expedition. Charles Clerk made one last attempt to navigate the Bering Strait, but also failed. While sailing back to England he died of tuberculosis. Cook's third circumnavigation was completed by James King, bringing both ships to England in 1780.
Australia is the smallest continent on our planet. In the Middle Ages, there were legends about it, and Europeans called it “the unknown southern land” (Terra Australis Incognita).
Any schoolchild knows that humanity owes the discovery of the continent to the English sailor James Cook, who visited the east coast of Australia in 1770. But in fact, the mainland was known in Europe long before Cook appeared. Who discovered it? And when did this event happen?
When did the first people appear in Australia?
The ancestors of the current indigenous population appeared in Australia approximately 40–60 thousand years ago. It is from this period that the most ancient archaeological finds discovered by researchers in the upper reaches of the Swan River in the western part of the mainland date back.
It is believed that humans arrived on the continent by sea, making them the earliest sea travelers. To this day, it is unknown where the Australian Aborigines came from, but it is believed that at least three different populations settled in Australia at that time.
Who visited Australia before the Europeans?
There is an opinion that the discoverers of Australia were the ancient Egyptians, who brought eucalyptus oil from the continent. 
During research on Australian territory, drawings of insects that looked like scarabs were discovered, and during archaeological excavations in Egypt, scientists found mummies embalmed with oil from Australian eucalyptus trees.
Despite such clear evidence, many historians doubt this version, since the continent became famous in Europe much later.
Who was the first European to visit Australia?
Attempts to discover Australia were made by navigators back in the 16th century. Many scientists believe that the first Europeans to visit the continent were the Portuguese. It is believed that in 1509 they visited the Moluccas, from where in 1522 they moved to the north. West Coast mainland.
At the beginning of the 20th century, cannons made in the 16th century were found in this area, which presumably belonged to Portuguese sailors.
This version has not been conclusively proven, so today it is indisputable that the discoverer of Australia was the Dutch admiral Willem Janszoon.
In November 1605, he set out on his ship "Dyfken" from the Indonesian city of Bantam and headed towards New Guinea, and three months later landed on the northwestern coast of Australia, on the Cape York Peninsula. As part of his expedition, Janszon explored about 320 km of coastline and compiled it detailed map.
Interestingly, the admiral never realized that he had discovered Australia. He considered the found lands to be part of New Guinea and gave them the name “New Holland”. After Janszoon, another Dutch navigator visited Australia, Abel Tasman, who discovered the islands of New Zealand and mapped the Australian western coast.
Thus, thanks to the Dutch sailors, by the middle of the 17th century the outlines of Australia were clearly marked on all geographical maps.
Who discovered Australia according to the official version?
And yet, most scientists continue to consider James Cook as the discoverer, since it was after his visit that Europeans began to actively explore the continent. The brave young lieutenant set out in search of the “unknown southern land” as part of a trip around the world in 1768.
By official version the purpose of his journey was to study the passage of Venus through, but in fact he had secret instructions to head to southern latitudes and find Terra Australis Incognita.
Departing from Plymouth on the ship Endeavor, in April 1769 Cook reached the coast of Tahiti, and a year later, in April 1770, he approached the eastern shores of Australia. After that, he visited the continent twice more. During his third expedition in 1778, Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which became the place of his death. 
Unable to get along with the Hawaiians, the lieutenant tried to capture one of the local chiefs, but was killed in the fight, presumably by a spear blow to the back of the head.
Australia is the smallest and furthest continent from Eurasia. During the Middle Ages it was called Terra Australis Incognita, which translated meant “unknown southern land" Who discovered the mainland of Australia, and in what year did this happen?
Official version
Humanity became aware of the new territory thanks to the traveler and navigator James Cook. His goals included studying the passage of Venus through the solar disk. It is assumed that the real reason for Cook's trip was the search for uncharted lands in the southern latitudes of Terra Australis Incognita. He set out on a trip around the world and discovered distant lands, reaching the coast of the mainland in 1770. This date is considered historically accurate. But the existence of a piece of land “at the ends of the earth” was known much earlier. In addition, there were human settlements there. It is difficult to determine the date of their foundation; approximately it happened 40 - 60 thousand years ago. Artifacts found in western Australia on the Swan River date back to that period.
Who discovered the mainland of Australia in prehistoric times?
Scientists suggest that the first travelers to travel to land by ocean were the ancient Egyptians. They brought eucalyptus oil from these regions.
This version is confirmed by cave paintings with insects similar to Egyptian sacred scarabs. In addition, mummies were found in tombs in Egypt, embalming them with oil from eucalyptus trees grown in Australia.
However, all these theories are not officially accepted, since the existence of a continent lost in the sea in Europe became known much later.
Who first discovered Australia?
Attempts to reach the continent were made several times. In the 16th century, the Portuguese set off on the sea route. In 1509 they reached the Moluccas, and in 1522 they found themselves on the northwestern coast. These dates are considered the first time the continent was founded by Europeans.
There is also a hypothesis that Australia was discovered by Admiral Willem Janszoon, who arrived on the continent on behalf of the Dutch authorities. He undertook a campaign in 1605. The ship Dyfken was equipped for this purpose. He followed the direction of New Guinea and after three months of travel reached the Cape York Peninsula. The navigator compiled a detailed map of the coast with a length of 320 km. He did not even suspect that he had discovered a new continent, considering the lands to be the territories of New Guinea. Therefore they were given the name "New Holland".
Abel Tasman sailed after him to the mainland. He explored the islands on the west coast and plotted their outlines on the world map. One of the islands, Tasmania, is named after the discoverer.
Thus, by the 17th century, thanks to the efforts of Dutch travelers, the position of the continent of Australia and its islands on the world map became known.
America was discovered by Columbus, and Australia by Captain Cook. Both of these statements have long been disputed many times, but they continue to live in the consciousness of the masses. Long before Captain Cook set foot on the coast of Australia on April 20, 1770, sailors from the Old World had landed here more than once.
According to a number of historians, the discoverers of Australia are the Portuguese. They claim that an expedition led by Cristovão de Mendonça visited the north-west coast of Australia in 1522. It is unknown whether this happened intentionally or by accident. The details of this voyage are also unknown. The only material evidence that has reached us are small bronze cannons with the image of the Portuguese crown minted on them. They were found in 1916 on the shores of Roebuck Bay (Western Australia) and date back to the beginning of the 16th century.
2 Willem Janszoon Expedition
The first European to visit Australia is considered to be the Dutchman Willem Janszoon. On November 28, 1605, Captain Janszon set off from Bantam on the ship Dufken to unknown lands. Having bypassed the islands of Kai and Aru from the north, he reached south coast New Guinea, completely unknown to the Dutch. Janszohn called it "Marshy Land" and traced the coastline for 400 kilometers. Having then rounded the island of Kolepom, Janszon turned southeast, crossed the central part of the Arafura Sea and unexpectedly saw the shore. This was Australia. In the western part of the Cape York Peninsula, near the mouth of a small river, in May 1606, the Dutch made the first documented landing of Europeans on the Australian continent.
Janszon steered his ship along the flat, deserted coast. Although unknown land, as the Dutch were convinced, stretched further to the south; on June 6, 1606, at Cape Kerver (“Turn”), the Dufken turned 180º and set off on the return journey. During the landing at Albatross Bay, the Dutch first came into contact with the Australian Aborigines. A battle immediately broke out, with several people killed on both sides. Continuing north, the sailors traced and mapped the coast of Cape York Peninsula almost to its northern tip. The total length of the explored coast of Australia, which Janszoon dubbed New Holland, was about 350 kilometers.
3 Expedition of Jan Carstens
The wreck of the English ship Trial, which occurred on May 25, 1622, on the reefs near the islands of Monte Bello and Barrow, showed that the complete lack of exploration of the waters washing the coast of North-Western and Northern Australia poses great dangers. The leadership of the Dutch East India Company decided to explore the ocean south of Java and trace the southern coast of New Guinea. To accomplish this task, the expedition of Jan Carstens set off from Batavia in January 1623 on two ships, the Pera and the Arnhem. For more than a week, Dutch sailors sailed along the southern coast of New Guinea. On the morning of February 16, Carstens saw a high mountain range in the distance - this was the western part of the Maoke Mountains. Five days later, a group of Dutchmen landed on shore to resupply. The local population was very hostile. As a result of the skirmish, 10 sailors were killed, including the captain of the Arnhem.
On March 20, the expedition reached the southwestern tip of New Guinea. The weather worsened and a storm began. On March 28, Carstens sent a navigator on a boat with 12 sailors to explore the shore visible in the distance. They reported that the sea to the east was becoming shallower, and desert land was visible in the distance. Meanwhile, walking along the coast became dangerous: shoals and reefs began to appear more and more often. The Dutch turned to the open sea.
On April 12, land appeared on the horizon again. This was Australia. For two weeks, Carstens' ships sailed south along the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula, landing on land several times - at river mouths and in bays. The natives he met were quite peaceful. The flat and low-lying coast of North-West Australia was described by Carstens in his report as “the most barren on Earth”. The Dutch couldn't even find enough here fresh water. In addition, the expedition's flagship, Pera, was damaged. Carstens instructed Kolster, the captain of the Arnhem, to complete the exploration of the coast, and he himself turned north and safely reached the Moluccas. Kolster, moving south, managed to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria. Taking advantage of the favorable southeast monsoon, he turned northwest from here and, following this course, discovered a large peninsula, later named the Arnhemland Peninsula after his ship.
4 Abel Tasman Expeditions
By the early 1640s. The Dutch knew and mapped the following parts of Australia: in the north - the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula, the Arnhem Land ledge, the entire western coast of the mainland and the western part of its southern coast. However, it was still not clear what this mysterious land was: a separate continent or a giant protrusion of the as yet undiscovered Great Southern Continent? And the pragmatic directors of the East India Company were also worried about another question: what was the potential benefit of these newly discovered lands? What are their commercial prospects? The expedition of the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, which set out from Batavia in 1642 on two small ships “Heemskerk” and “Zehan”, was supposed to answer these questions. Tasman did not encounter any continent and only on November 24, from the board of the Zehan, they saw a high coast called Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Tasman was never sure whether it was an island or the southern tip of Australia, and Van Diemen's Land was considered a peninsula for more than a century and a half until Bass Strait was passed. Traveling further to the southeast, Tasman discovered New Zealand, and with this the expedition practically ended, leaving a lot of unresolved problems.
In 1645, the governor of Batavia, Van Diemen, sent Tasman on a new expedition to the shores of Australia. Tasman's three ships surveyed the southern coast of New Guinea for 750 kilometers and completed the discovery of the Gulf of Carpentaria, bypassing its eastern and, for the first time, southern and western shores. Experienced sailors, the Dutch never noticed the entrance to the Torres Strait. In total, the expedition explored and mapped about 5.5 thousand kilometers of coastline and established that all the lands previously discovered by the Dutch were parts of a single continent - New Holland. However, Tasman did not find anything worthy of attention from the point of view of commerce on this continent, and after 1644 the Dutch completely lost interest in the Green Continent.
5 James Cook Expedition
In 1768, James Cook set off on his first voyage around the world. In April 1770, Cook approached the eastern coast of Australia. On the shore of the bay, in the waters of which the ship Endeavor stopped, the expedition managed to find many previously unknown plant species, so Cook called this bay Botanical. From Botany Bay, Cook headed northwest along the east coast of Australia.
A few kilometers north of Botany Bay, James Cook discovered a wide natural passage into a huge natural harbor - Port Jackson. In his report, the researcher described it as an ideal place for the safe anchorage of many ships. Many years later, the first Australian city, Sydney, was founded here. It took Cook the next four months to climb up to the Gulf of Carpentaria, to an area called New Holland. The navigator compiled a detailed map coastline future Australia.
Having not quite happily passed the Great Barrier Reef, the Endeavor finally reached the northern tip of Australia. On August 22, 1770, James Cook, on behalf of King George III, solemnly proclaimed the land he had explored as the possession of Great Britain and named it New South Wales.
