Karimova Alina Form 9a

Captain James Cook was a well known British explorer and navigator with a little formal education. He was born on the 27th October 1728 and died on the 14th February Captain James Cook sailed around to far reach of the world reaching all seven continents during his lifetime. He traveled on three very lengthy journeys with two different sailing ships, encountering hardship and triumph along the way.

Cook’s first Voyage West observe the transit of Venus across the sky, in order to measure the distance from the Sun to the Earth. While the measurements he obtained in Tahiti were not useful enough for measuring the distance, it still was useful because Cook and the naturalists with him explored islands such as New Zealand, Australia, and Tahiti..

Cook’s Second voyage was to find the mythological Terra Australia. While much evidence disproved the existence of an 8th Continent below Australia and yet above Antarctica, the notion was so compelling and popular that the Royal British Navy sent Cook on an expedition. Of course, Cook’s voyage disproved the existence of the continent; but it allowed him to map the island of Georgia.

Cook's third and final voyage was to explore the fabled northwest strait, a route that could bring goods from onside of the world to the other without rounding Cape Horn. After exploring in the Arctic, Cook turned around and landed in Hawaii..On 14February at Kealakekua Bay, some Hawaiians took one of Cooks small boats. Normally, as thefts were quite common in Tahiti and the other islands, Cook would have taken hostages until the stolen articles were returned. Instead he tried to retrieve the boats. In the resulting fight Cook was hit in the head, and then stabbed to death. Four of the marines accompanying him were likewise killed.