Who discovered Australia?

Cook was born in England on 1728. He worked on a coal carrier when he was young, and later served in the Royal Navy (1756— 1763). During his service in the navy, he was ordered to conduct many coastal surveys in the St. Lawrence River and Newfoundland in North America, and forged his tenacious will in these hard work. He mapped the coastline of many areas and made a detailed survey of many areas on the east coast of the North American continent. These outstanding achievements earned him the reputation of "excellent chartist".

Looking for the southern continent

Cook grew up in the era of the climax of western exploration. At that time, there was a theory that there were many continents in the northern hemisphere, and from the perspective of balancing the weight of the earth, there should also be a large area of land in the southern hemisphere. Otherwise, due to the imbalance of the earth, the rotation will inevitably shake from side to side, but in fact the rotation of the earth has been very stable. From this we can guess that there must be a southern continent. Another theory further develops this conjecture that there is more land in the center of the South Pole. In order to find and occupy this continent before other countries and expand the territory of British imperialism, the British government sent Cook to sail out to sea in search of this magical southern continent.

1768 On August 25th, Cook set sail from England on the voyage ship Endeavour. The ship weighs 386 tons and has been a coal carrier in the North Sea for four years. Therefore, Endeavour is somewhat old and its equipment is not satisfactory. Cook doesn't care about this, but he is still full of confidence in this voyage. Endeavour crossed Plymouth Bay and the English Channel and headed for the Atlantic Ocean. After a short berth in Madeira, they sailed to South America, crossed Cape Horn and finally reached Tahiti. But it's been 1 1 month since they set off from England.

When they arrived in Tahiti, it was already the summer of 1769. The sunshine here is strong, Wan Li is clear, and Matawi Bay is as level as a mirror, which is the golden season for scientific investigation. One day, an extremely rare transit of venus appeared in the sky, and the whole expedition was boiling, and the team members scrambled to watch this rare astronomical phenomenon. A group of British scientists on the shore calculated the distance between the sun and the earth around two temporary astronomical observation telescopes; Some naval officers came up to join in the fun, and too many cooks helped move the telescope. At this time, Captain Cook was concerned with another matter.

Before he left, the Admiralty had instructed him to set sail for a more important mission immediately after completing this astronomical observation. He glanced at the boiling crowd, silently walked into the cabin and opened the sealed document. A clear line immediately caught his eye: "Since there may be a continent to the south of a land recently discovered by Colonel Wallis ... you should sail south to 40 degrees south latitude to find this continent ... If you can't find this continent on this voyage, you should continue to search west." After reading it, Cook fell into a long meditation.

1769, 13 In July, scientists finally ended their observation of Venus, and Cook immediately ordered to sail south. It took them a month to cross a group of islands, and the waters between these islands were very narrow, so they spent more than a month circling. Cook named the islands society islands. Although it bypassed the society islands, the southern mainland still disappeared, and Cook could not help secretly worrying. There was a monk on the Endeavour. He was familiar with the waters around here, but when asked about the southern mainland, he still knew nothing. As soon as early August passed, the weather began to get cold, and Endeavour continued to sail south. By the beginning of 1 1, Endeavour had passed 40 degrees south latitude, but there was still no sign of the southern continent. At this time, the weather is getting worse and worse, and the waves are getting bigger and bigger, which poses a great threat to Endeavour. Cook knows very well that if he continues to sail south, the consequences will be unimaginable. So he ordered to sail west.

Another month passed, and they saw seaweed and wood floating on the sea surface, and flocks of seabirds flying in the sky. Obviously, a piece of land is about to appear before them. Cook quickly judged that this was New Zealand discovered by Dutch explorers a century ago.

To Cook's great disappointment, the discovery of Australia never found the southern continent during the whole voyage. He himself began to doubt the existence of this southern continent. Cook doesn't like imagination like Columbus. He believes more in the result of exploration than in the process. He wants to sail eastward and return to England from the South Pacific, proving that this long-disputed southern continent is nothing. However, at that time, the winter in the southern hemisphere was coming, and his sailors also hoped to return home. Cook weighed and decided to return. On the return flight, Cook had a new idea. He knew that they would soon meet the unpolluted continent of Australia. He really wanted to go to Australia to see the land first, because no Europeans had seen the east coast of Australia at that time.

19 days later, the shadow of the land loomed on the horizon. The crew was suddenly excited because they came to a new continent. In order to find a good bay for berthing Endeavour, Cook ordered to continue sailing north along the Australian coast. They are delighted to see full of green. Obviously, this new continent is a rich land, not as desolate as the Dutch said. 1770 On April 28th, the expedition finally found a calm bay where Endeavour was moored. They found a lot of squid here, so Cook named it Squid Bay. Later, it was renamed Plant Bay because they collected a large number of plant specimens here.

In Botany Bay, Cook raised the British flag on the coast every day to show that the area belonged to Britain, and later he declared that the whole east coast of Australia belonged to Britain. To commemorate the first arrival of Endeavour in Australia, he carved the date on a rubber tree. During the voyage along the east coast of Australia, Cook carefully mapped the coastline. In the coastline map, it is obvious that he has noticed Sydney, an excellent harbor, but because of the tight time, he had no time to examine it carefully and hurried by.

In late May, Endeavour arrived at the Great Barrier Reef, the largest reef area in the Pacific Ocean. There are many reefs here, and shoals and knife-shaped corals can be seen everywhere-this reef area stretches along the tropical coast of Queensland in northeastern Australia 1600 kilometers. After Endeavour entered this reef, its bad luck was inevitable. Soon after, Endeavour finally ran aground on a huge coral reef. Cook tried every means to avoid the rocks, but because there were too many rocks around, he couldn't turn around at all, so he had to watch the Endeavour hit the rocks. In desperation, Cook ordered to throw away some unnecessary items on board: a large number of old guns, ballast iron, stones and rotten food were thrown into the sea, but to no avail. Then more troubles followed, the sea began to ebb, and the ship weighed more heavily on the dangerous coral reef. If this situation continues, the ship is likely to break.

When the tide rises, the tide hits the port side of the ship and the whole hull begins to tilt. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the cabin, and the sea water came in from the hole. The situation is very critical. Cook ordered two pumps to pump water, but soon the water leaking into the cabin began to overflow the pumps. At this critical juncture, Cook put all his eggs in one basket and ordered the crew to anchor together and get out of trouble.

After more than an hour, the hull finally floated, and the water no longer leaked into the cabin, which made Cook and other crew both excited and surprised: when the anchor was pulled too hard, the anchor cable hooked a coral stone and blocked the hole in the ship like a plug. Cook breathed a sigh of relief, and he quickly ordered the "effort" to dock.

At an estuary, the crew repaired the endeavour. Cook saw that the estuary was in good condition and there were green grass, wild animals and fish in the middle reaches of the river, so he ordered a rest on the spot. They have a good time here, hunting ashore during the day and fishing in the sea; Enjoy this delicious food in the evening. There are many kinds of plants here. They collected many specimens and found many strange animals.

In this estuary, the expedition spent seven weeks. On August 6th, Endeavour was renovated and started sailing again. This time, Cook learned his lesson and carefully avoided the reef. Finally, on August 2 1, 1, they arrived at Cape York, the northern tip of Australia. Cook's superb ship-to-sea technology has been fully exerted here. Cape York is close to Southeast Asia, and Cook decided to go to east indies through Torres Strait from here. Soon, they arrived at the Dutch port of Ba Tawiah (Indonesian capital Jakarta).

Cook once again ordered the renovation of Endeavour. After more than two years of sailing, Endeavour was seriously damaged. However, the crew did not adapt to the hot weather here, and a plague prevailed among the crew, killing 73 people at once. Cook was so sad that he quickly ordered to return to China. 177 1 07 13, Endeavour finally returned to England after three years' voyage. During this voyage, they added more than 8,000 kilometers of coastline to the world map, which is a great achievement.

Later, during an expedition, Cook clashed with the aborigines. Killed by it. When the news of Cook's death reached Britain, the whole country was immersed in grief. King George III of England burst into tears and mourned the loss of such a great explorer who made great contributions to the British Empire. Cook, an outstanding explorer, will go down in history with his brilliant achievements.

Australia