Captain Cook's discovery of Australia and New Zealand ushered in the Pacific Age.

A long time ago, even as far away as ancient Greece, the so-called southern continent problem has been the focus of scholars' long-term discussion. There is a theory that there are many continents in the northern hemisphere, so from the perspective of balancing the weight of the earth, there should also be a large land in the southern hemisphere. Otherwise, due to the imbalance of the earth, the rotation of the earth will inevitably sway left and right, but in fact, the rotation of the earth has been very stable, so we can guess that there must be a southern continent.

at that time, it was the period when the western exploration climaxes were repeated. In order to find and occupy this imaginary continent before other countries and expand the territory of the British empire, the British government sent Cook to the sea for a long voyage to find this mysterious southern continent.

On August 25th, 1768 (thirty-three years of Qianlong), 39-year-old Cook and his crew set sail from England on the long-distance ship Endeavour. For Cook, the difficulty of this voyage is no less than that of modern people exploring the moon or Mars. He will lead Endeavour to sail thousands of miles across the vast ocean, looking for a piece of land only 2 miles away in Fiona Fang.

Cook and Endeavour

At that time, steam engines and generators had not been invented, and it was just a legend. There is no navigation equipment such as GPS. This famous Full rigged ship in the history of human exploration is actually only 97 feet (29.8 meters) long, which is less than the length of two and a half 4-foot containers now.

On the voyage, dangerous storms will suddenly appear without warning, and some unknown life forms are waiting in the depths of the ocean. But the voyage was a great success. Cook commanded the crew to sail south for five months. Arrived in New Zealand on October 7, 1769, setting a record for the first time that a European ship sailed around New Zealand. By using the longitude measuring instrument, he drew a large number of maps for the Pacific islands between New Zealand and Hawaii, and the accuracy and scale of the maps were unmatched by predecessors. Later, the strait between the two islands of New Zealand was also named "Cook Strait".

Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to set foot in New Zealand. Later, people who fished for seals and whales also came here, missionaries followed soon, and settlements began to be gradually established. After Britain immigrated to New Zealand in large numbers, New Zealand became a British colony.

The following is a diary of Cook:

March 31, 177

(New Zealand) There are many kinds of fish in the open seas, bays and rivers, most of which are unknown to the British. And lobster, which everyone who has eaten says is the best. Oysters and other shellfish are also the best of their kind. Seabirds and waterfowl, no matter what kind, are not many. Europeans know ducks, cormorants, gannets and seagulls. We've eaten all these, and the taste is excellent. It's impeccable. There's nothing better. The number of land birds is also small. I believe that all land birds except quail have never been seen in Europe.

on April 2th, 177, I finally arrived in Australia. Until April 29th, Endeavour finally landed in a suitable bay. There are many new plants around the bay that are not found in Europe, so Cook named it "Botany Bay". On this day, it also became the anniversary of Captain Cook's landing in Australia, and the landing place was Botany Bay in Sydney, which will become a charming tourist attraction in the future.

Botany Bay in Sydney

Cook led the crew to become the first Europeans to land on the east coast of Australia, named the east coast of Australia "New South Wales", and declared that the Australian mainland belonged to Britain from then on in the name of then King George III. This is New South Wales on the east coast of Australia today, and it is still the most populous and industrially developed area in the country.

On July 13th, 1771, Endeavour finally returned to England after a three-year voyage. On this voyage, they added more than 5 miles of coastline to the world map. There were 94 people at the time of departure, and only a dozen people were left after returning. Captain Cook's Pacific exploration made Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii known to civilized society and gradually became a part of the world. The map of the world has thus expanded by 8 million square kilometers. Before long, the world entered the Pacific era.

The following year, Cook embarked on a second voyage and continued to explore the rumored "unknown southern continent" (Antarctica), because Australia was obviously too small to balance the land in the northern hemisphere.

after three years, the voyage successfully sailed to the sea not far from Antarctica at 71 degrees 1 south latitude, becoming the southernmost place that navigators have been to in the whole 18th century. However, Cook, who didn't find Antarctica, decided to turn back at this time because of the bad weather environment, which dashed the hope of finding a mysterious continent. In addition to the Antarctic, Cook made a detour in the South Pacific and visited Easter Island, Tonga, norfolk island and other places, during which he also crossed an unnamed island reef, which was later named "Cook Islands".

From 1776 to 1779, Cook's third voyage was his last voyage. Cook's fleet sailed through the Prince of Wales on August 8, 1778 and entered the Bering Strait. A few days later, it sailed into the Arctic Circle on August 14. This is the northernmost place that Cook has been in the whole journey, but it was also at this time that Cook had to decide to return to the south because he was blocked by icebergs and frozen sea. After preparing for the winter, I will go to Beihang again.

The bronze statue of Captain Cook in Australia

The replica of Endeavour permanently docked in Sydney Harbour

Cook should not be the first European to arrive in Hawaii, but he was the first person to accurately mark the Hawaiian Islands on the map, so he was regarded as the discoverer of Hawaii. Cook and his party returned to Hawaii for a rest. At that time, it was not a tourist attraction. There were no lovely girls dancing hula, no coconut juice, only hostile indigenous people with dark skin. Not only did the islanders refuse to replenish food and forbid them to cut down wood, but they also snatched their belongings, and the boat of Discovery was also stolen by local islanders. Cook's fleet had an armed conflict with local aborigines, and Cook, who was only 5 years old, was unfortunately stabbed to death by a spear, ending his life of maritime exploration.

Captain Cook is widely regarded as the founding father of Australia. In 1934, on the centenary of the founding of Melbourne, Australia, Cook Cabin was demolished and moved to Melbourne, Australia for permanent preservation. In 22, Captain Cook ranked 12th in the British Top 1 Great Men Election organized by the BBC.