Table Of ContentGGrreeaatt EExxpplloorreerrss
Captain
Cook
by Jim Ollhoff
Visit us at
www.abdopublishing.com
Published by ABDO Publishing Company, PO Box 398166, Minneapolis, MN 55439.
Copyright ©2014 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all
countries. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from
the publisher. ABDO & Daughters™ is a trademark and logo of ABDO Publishing Company.
Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota
052013
092013
Editor: John Hamilton
Graphic Design: Sue Hamilton
Cover Design: Neil Klinepier
Cover Photos: Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Artist
Interior Photos & Illustrations: Getty-pgs 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 & 15; Glow Images-pgs 25 &
27; Herbert K. Kane-pgs 18-19, 21, 22-23 & 28-29; iStockphoto-compass illustration; John
Hamilton-pgs 4, 12, 16 & 20; Library of Congress/Artist David Martin-pg 26; Princeton University
Library-pgs 5, 17 & 18 (map); Thinkstock-pgs 9 & 24 & grunge map background illustration.
ABDO Booklinks
To learn more about Great Explorers, visit ABDO Publishing Company online. Web sites about
Great Explorers are featured on our Book Links pages. These links are routinely monitored and
updated to provide the most current information available. Web site: www.abdopublishing.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013931618
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ollhoff, Jim.
Captain Cook / Jim Ollhoff.
p. cm. -- (Great explorers)
ISBN 978-1-61783-965-8
1. Cook, James, 1728-1779--Travel--Juvenile literature. 2. Explorers--Great Britain--Biography--
Juvenile literature. 3. Voyages around the world--Juvenile literature. I. Title.
910.92--dc23
[B] 2013931618
Contents
Unknown Lands ......................................................................................................4
Birth and Early Years ..............................................................................................8
The Mapmaker ......................................................................................................10
First Voyage ...........................................................................................................12
Second Voyage ......................................................................................................16
Third Voyage .........................................................................................................20
Cook’s Legacy .......................................................................................................24
Timeline .................................................................................................................28
Glossary ..................................................................................................................30
Index .......................................................................................................................32
Unknown
Lands
I
n the 1700s, Europeans didn’t know much about
the Pacific Ocean. They knew its approximate size
because of Ferdinand Magellan’s explorations in the
early 1500s. They knew there were some fascinating
and exotic unexplored places. There were hundreds of
islands in the Pacific Ocean with undiscovered beauty
and wealth. The vast markets of China and India held
many opportunities. Europeans
desperately wanted to trade with the
people of the East, but getting there
quickly and safely was a big problem.
Most places were unmapped and
uncharted. The Pacific Ocean was a
vast unknown area.
Left: The exotic Na Pali Coast, on the
island of Kauai, Hawaii. In 1778, Captain
James Cook became the first European
to make documented contact with the
Hawaiian Islands. He named them the
“Sandwich Islands” after John Montagu,
the English Earl of Sandwich.
4
One of the great mysteries of the world at that
time was a legendary continent called Terra Australis
Incognita, which means “unknown land of the south.”
The ancient Greeks, during the time of Aristotle
(384–322 bc) and Ptolemy (90–168 ad), knew the
world was round. And they knew about all the land
in Europe. But they believed that, because the Earth
was perfectly balanced, the land at the top of the globe
(Europe) had to be balanced by land at the bottom Below: An early
of the globe. So they believed there should be a huge 17th-century map
continent on the bottom of the world. They called this of the legendary
imaginary land Terra Australis Incognita. In the 1500s southern continent
and 1600s most mapmakers believed this land existed, of Terra Australis
and even drew it on their maps. Incognita.
5
The explorations of Magellan proved that South
America was not connected to this proposed southern
continent. Other explorers had shown that Africa
was also not connected. When Europeans discovered
Australia, they thought it must be part of this southern
continent. Whenever explorers discovered an island, they
wondered if they had found Terra Australis Incognita.
Below: The Then along came Captain James Cook. One
Endeavour, a of Captain Cook’s “discoveries” was to prove that
replica of one of there was no Terra Australis Incognita. Antarctica is
Captain James a southern continent, but Cook realized that people
Cook’s ships, sets could not live there. Captain Cook sailed around the
sail in Australian Earth and charted and mapped huge areas of the world.
waters in 2011. He was one of history’s greatest explorers.
6
Captain James Cook said, “Ambition
leads me not only farther than any other
man has been before me, but as far as
I think it possible for man to go.” Cook
sailed around the Earth and charted and
mapped huge areas of the world.
77
1728–1758
Birth and
Early
Years
J
ames Cook was born October 27, 1728, in the
village of Marton, in Yorkshire, England. His parents
were poor, so he had to go to work at an early age. In his
teens he was an apprentice to ship owners. He became
very comfortable on the ocean, and became an expert at
charts and maps.
Right: Cook’s
seamanship
training began in
Whitby, along the
coast of Yorkshire,
England. Fishing
remains an
important industry
in Whitby today.
8
