Editing James Cook (section)

==First voyage (1768–1771)==
{{Main|First voyage of James Cook}}

On 25 May 1768,<ref name=kippis1>{{cite book |title=Narrative of the voyages round the world, performed by Captain James Cook; with an account of his life during the previous and intervening periods |first=Andrew |last=Kippis |date=1788 |at=Chapter 2 |url=http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/cook/james/c77n/chapter2.html |access-date=3 October 2018 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003100841/https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/cook/james/c77n/chapter2.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 [[transit of Venus]] across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun.<ref>{{harvnb|Collingridge|2003|p=95}}</ref> Cook, at age 39, was promoted to [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]] to grant him sufficient status to take the command.<ref name="Rigby30">{{harvnb|Rigby|van der Merwe|2002|p=30}}</ref>{{Sfn|Beazley|1911|p=71}} For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred [[Guinea (coin)|guinea]] gratuity, equivalent to {{GBP|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|{{£sd |g=100}}|1768|r=0}}|link=yes}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}, in addition to his Naval pay.<ref>{{harvnb|Beaglehole|1968|p=cix}}</ref>

The expedition sailed aboard {{HMS|Endeavour||6}}, departing England on 26 August 1768.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16774546 |title=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=2 May 1931 |access-date=4 September 2012 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312061305/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16774546 |url-status=live}}</ref> Cook and his crew rounded [[Cape Horn]] and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at [[Tahiti]] on 13 April 1769, where the [[1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti|observations of the transit]] were made.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cook_captain_james.shtml |work=BBC |title=History – Captain James Cook |access-date=31 July 2017 |archive-date=16 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016100346/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cook_captain_james.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of ''[[Terra Australis]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Secret Instructions to Captain Cook, 30 June 1768 |publisher=[[National Archives of Australia]] |url=http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf |access-date=3 September 2011 |archive-date=27 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427203030/https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of [[Tupaia (navigator)|Tupaia]], a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the [[Māori people|Māori]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Salmond |first=Anne |title=Two worlds: first meetings between Māori and Europeans, 1642–1772 |date=1991 |publisher=Viking |isbn=0-670-83298-7 |location=Auckland, New Zealand |oclc=26545658}}</ref> However, at least eight Māori were killed in violent encounters.<ref>{{harvnb|Beaglehole|1974|pp=198–200, 202, 205–207}}</ref> Cook then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia near today's Point Hicks on 19 April 1770,<ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Beaglehole|1974|pp=226–228}}</ref><ref group="NB">At this time, the [[International Date Line]] had yet to be established, so the dates in Cook's journal are a day earlier than those accepted today.</ref> and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.<ref>{{cite web |date=18 July 2018 |title=Queensland's history—pre 1700s |url=https://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-queensland/history/timeline/pre-1700s |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615052433/https://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-queensland/history/timeline/pre-1700s |archive-date=15 June 2024 |access-date=29 December 2024 |website=Queensland Government}}</ref>[[File:Cook's landing at Botany Bay.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Cook landing at [[Botany Bay]] (Kamay)]]On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of [[Aboriginal Australians]] at [[Brush Island]] near [[Bawley Point, New South Wales|Bawley Point]], noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes<!--not a mistake, don't change it--> they might have on I know not."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700422.html |title=Cook's Journal: Daily Entries, 22 April 1770 |access-date=21 September 2011 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927080037/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700422.html |url-status=live}}</ref> 

''Endeavour'' continued northwards along the coastline, keeping the land in sight with Cook charting and naming landmarks as he went. On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the continent at a beach now known as [[Silver Beach (New South Wales)|Silver Beach]] on [[Botany Bay]] ([[Kamay Botany Bay National Park]]). Two Gweagal men of the Dharawal / Eora nation opposed their landing and in the confrontation one of them was shot and wounded.<ref>{{cite web |title=Voices heard but not understood |url=https://www.gujaga.org.au/stories/voices-heard-but-not-understood |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=Gujaga Foundation |date=29 April 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308075129/https://www.gujaga.org.au/stories/voices-heard-but-not-understood |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto22">{{cite web |title=Cook's Journal: Daily Entries, 29 April 1770 |url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700429.html |access-date=25 October 2019 |website=southseas.nla.gov.au |publisher=South Seas |archive-date=8 April 2011 |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110408181719/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700429.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Blainey|2020|pp=141–43}}</ref>

Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and botanical specimens and exploring the surrounding area. Cook sought to establish relations with the Indigenous population without success.<ref>{{Cite book |last=FitzSimons |first=Peter |title=James Cook: the story behind the man who mapped the world |date=2019 |publisher=Hachette Australia |isbn=978-0-7336-4127-5 |location=Sydney |pages=304–306 |oclc=1109734011}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Blainey|2020|pp=146–157}}</ref> At first Cook named the inlet "Sting-Ray Harbour" after the many stingrays found there. This was later changed to "Botanist Bay" and finally "Botany Bay", after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists [[Joseph Banks]] and [[Daniel Solander]].<ref>{{harvnb|Beaglehole|1974|p=230}}</ref> This first landing site was later to be promoted (particularly by Joseph Banks) as a suitable candidate for situating a settlement and [[British colony|British colonial]] outpost.<ref>{{harvnb|Blainey |2020|p=287}}</ref>[[File:Endeavour replica in Cooktown harbour.jpg|left|thumb|[[HM Bark Endeavour Replica|''Endeavour'' replica]] in [[Cooktown, Queensland]] harbour&nbsp;– anchored where the original ''Endeavour'' was beached for seven weeks in 1770|204x204px]]After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as [[Seventeen Seventy, Queensland|Seventeen Seventy]]) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when ''Endeavour'' ran aground on a shoal of the [[Great Barrier Reef]], and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770".<ref>{{harvnb|Robson|2004|p=81}}</ref> The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern [[Cooktown, Queensland]], at the mouth of the [[Endeavour River]]).<ref>{{Harvnb|Blainey|2020|pp=195-197, 227}}</ref> The crew's encounters with the local Aboriginal people were mostly peaceful, although following a dispute over green turtles Cook ordered shots to be fired and one local was lightly wounded.<ref>{{harvnb|Blainey|2020|pp=220–221}}</ref>

The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now [[Cape York Peninsula|Cape York]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cook |first=James |date=21 August 1770 |title=Cook's Journal: Daily Entries |url=http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700821.html |access-date=28 August 2020 |website=National Library of Australia |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031092849/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700821.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of [[Torres Strait]]. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island [[Possession Island (Queensland)|Possession Island]], where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory.<ref>Cook, James, Journal of the HMS Endeavour, 1768–1771, National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection, MS 1, 22 August 1770</ref> 

===Return to England===
Cook returned to England via [[History of Jakarta|Batavia]] (modern [[Jakarta]], Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to [[malaria]], and then the [[Cape of Good Hope]], arriving at the island of [[Saint Helena]] on 30 April 1771.<ref>{{harvnb|Beaglehole|1968|p=468}}</ref> The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/the-first-voyage-1768-1771 |title=The First Voyage (1768–1771) |publisher=The Captain Cook Society (CCS) |access-date=24 July 2019 |archive-date=3 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403121441/https://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/the-first-voyage-1768-1771 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Interlude===
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero.<ref name="collingridge">{{harvnb|Collingridge|2003}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2024}} Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and [[Johann Reinhold Forster]] and his son [[Georg Forster]] were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://britain.docuwat.ch/videos/empire/captain-cook-obsession-discovery-part-1-of-4 |title=Captain Cook: Obsession & Discovery. (Part 2 of 4) – Britain on DocuWatch – free streaming British history documentaries |year=2011 |access-date=5 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130407143428/http://britain.docuwat.ch/videos/empire/captain-cook-obsession-discovery-part-1-of-4 |archive-date=7 April 2013}}</ref>