"Ambition leads me..."- Captain Cook

On April 13, 1769, British Captain James Cook landed in Tahiti on his first circumnavigation of the world. Cook and his ship the Endeavour had the mission of observing and tracking the transit of Venus in the Southern Hemisphere. 

(Captain Cook's sketch of the transit of Venus)

After this scientific experiment, Cook and his mean were to sail West in search of a Southern continent. At the time, it was believed that the landmasses in the Northern hemisphere had to be balanced by an equal amount of landmass in the Southern hemisphere. 

(1592 map of the world)

By sailing West, Cook ran into New Zealand, which was not a new discovery at the time. New Zealand had been found and named by the Dutch in 1642, but they Dutch never landed. New Zealand is considered to be the last major landmass to be settled in the world because it is believed that between 800 and 1200 CE, sailing canoes from other islands carried pioneers to New Zealand. Cook's arrival was the first foreign contact the North Island had.

Cook spent six months in New Zealand, but it was to circumnavigate the islands and chart the coasts. His charts were so accurate that they continued to be used until 1994, when the Royal New Zealand Navy updated them. In addition to charting the coast of New Zealand, Cook made contact with the Maori and traded with them. 

After determining that New Zealand was not a peninsula of the fabled Southern Continent, Cook began his return trip. His next stop was the East coast of Australia. Australia was a known continent, but no Europeans had ever landed on the eastern coast. While sailing up the eastern coast, Cook found the harbor where Sydney would eventually be established. 

(Map from Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz)

After his trip in 1769, Cook ventured to the South Pacific two more times. He named the Sandwich Islands as well as a number of other islands, bays, bluffs and other landmarks. He developed the British map of the world. On February 14, 1779, Captain James Cook was killed by native Hawaiians in Hawaii.