Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
southern continent Terra Australis, which had been the subject of speculation since the time of the ancient
Greeks.
NAMES: Who Swallowed the Sandwich Islands?
You won't find the Sandwich Islands on the maps anymore. They've been swallowed whole. That is, what
once were called the Sandwich Islands have been restored to the name used by the natives of this volcanic
island chain—Hawaii.
The discovery and naming of the Sandwich Islands by Captain James Cook is a single chapter in one of
the most extraordinary tales of exploration and discovery in history. Born the son of a farmer, James Cook
became the greatest seagoing explorer of all time. In the course of three voyages over a dozen years, he
accurately filled in more details on the world map than anyone in hundreds of years. Modest, honest, and
humane, he opened up the Pacific for all of Europe, for better or for worse.
When Cook set sail in 1768 on the first of his three voyages, there were already hints at what the Pacific
held. From the time of Magellan and Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail around the world, stor-
ies of idyllic islands and wondrous places had filtered back to Europe. But even after the voyages of sailors
like the Dutchman Tasman, who reached Australia, Europeans did not comprehend the vastness of the Pa-
cific, the ocean which occupies more of the earth than all its land put together. Sailing in a small ship built
for carrying coal, Cook set out with two sets of orders, one public, the other sealed. His first mission was
to reach Tahiti (or Otaheite) in time to observe the passage—or transit—of the planet Venus across the face
of the sun, an event that was predicted to occur on June 3, 1769, and then not again for another century.
By observing this phenomenon from several points on the globe, British astronomers hoped to accurately
calculate the earth's distance from the sun and make celestial navigation far more reliable and safe. This
purely scientific objective, so different from those of previous eras of exploration when legends of gold
or riches provided the sole motivation, was typical of the British approach: an Enlightenment-era attempt
to expand knowledge of the world and improve navigational safety. It was this same spirit that would put
naturalists on British navy ships, including, a few years later, a young man named Charles Darwin.
Cook's second, secret orders were more mercenary. He was to search for the legendary southern con-
tinent, which the British hoped would provide another new world to colonize, since one of their existing
colonies was beginning to show signs of a rebellious adolescence by the mid-1700s.
Tahiti was already known to Europe because the island had been visited by a British ship in 1766 and
by the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811). Both brought back reports of inno-
cent and carefree natives living in a state that sounded to most Europeans as if paradise had indeed been
discovered. Tales of unashamed native girls and women willing to have sex freely and openly, often in
exchange for a tenpenny nail, were soon the talk of Europe. One story from Bougainville's account of his
voyage around the world was typical of what Europe was hearing. After reaching Tahiti, Bougainville's
ship was surrounded by canoes of naked women. Marines were called out to keep order among the sailors.
But the ship's cook could not be restrained. He made it to the beach, where he was immediately dragged
into the bushes by a band of women, stripped, and publicly performed “the act for which he had come
ashore.” After returning, the cook reportedly told his captain that whatever his punishment for disobey-
ing orders, it would not be more terrifying than the ladies on the beach. (Bougainville also brought back
samples of plant life he had found on his voyage, including the genus which is named for him, the woody
flowering shrub bougainvillea.)
It was in this strange new world that Cook's crew arrived after the long, difficult passage. After ob-
serving the transit of Venus, Cook went on to discover the Society Islands, then sailed around New Zealand
and found it was not part of the mysterious southern continent. He explored and charted more than two
