By Tony Long 01.18.08 | 12:00 AM
Captain James Cook
Image: From the National Maritime Museum, United Kingdom
1778: Capt. James Cook makes landfall in Waimea Bay on Kaua'i, becoming the first European to set foot in the Hawaiian Islands.
Cook, commanding the HMS Resolution and accompanied by HMS Discovery, was sailing north from Tahiti on his third Pacific voyage, intent on hunting for the elusive Northwest Passage, when Kaua'i, the second westernmost of the windward islands, was sighted.
The existence of these islands was unknown to Europeans even though Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch vessels had been crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean since the 16th century. None had ventured as far north as the Hawaiian Islands, however, and if Cook hadn't been striking out for the Passage, he would have missed them, too.
Because John Montague, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, had sponsored his voyages and happened to be the first lord of the Admiralty at the time, Cook christened the archipelago the Sandwich Islands.
Cook didn't linger since the Northwest Passage beckoned. But he did make contact with natives on Kaua'i and nearby Ni'ihau, and did return to the islands a year later, following a fruitless search in the Pacific Northwest. It proved a fatal mistake.
After a more extensive charting of the archipelago, Cook and his crew aboard the Resolution put in at Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawai'i. Originally deified by the Hawaiians -- Cook reportedly arrived during a sacred festival and was mistaken for an incarnation of the god Lono -- relations soon soured.
Following the theft of one of his longboats, Cook attempted to take the island chief hostage to compel its return. The Hawaiians resisted and Cook was killed, along with several other men, as they retreated to the Resolution.
Cook's visit was the pivotal moment in Hawaiian history. Now that the white man had found the islands, he wasn't about to go away. A horde of British, American and other European visitors descended and it wasn't long before the Polynesian population was marginalized, subjugated and force-fed the joys of Christianity.
Captain James Cook
Image: From the National Maritime Museum, United Kingdom
1778: Capt. James Cook makes landfall in Waimea Bay on Kaua'i, becoming the first European to set foot in the Hawaiian Islands.
Cook, commanding the HMS Resolution and accompanied by HMS Discovery, was sailing north from Tahiti on his third Pacific voyage, intent on hunting for the elusive Northwest Passage, when Kaua'i, the second westernmost of the windward islands, was sighted.
The existence of these islands was unknown to Europeans even though Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch vessels had been crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean since the 16th century. None had ventured as far north as the Hawaiian Islands, however, and if Cook hadn't been striking out for the Passage, he would have missed them, too.
Because John Montague, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, had sponsored his voyages and happened to be the first lord of the Admiralty at the time, Cook christened the archipelago the Sandwich Islands.
Cook didn't linger since the Northwest Passage beckoned. But he did make contact with natives on Kaua'i and nearby Ni'ihau, and did return to the islands a year later, following a fruitless search in the Pacific Northwest. It proved a fatal mistake.
After a more extensive charting of the archipelago, Cook and his crew aboard the Resolution put in at Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawai'i. Originally deified by the Hawaiians -- Cook reportedly arrived during a sacred festival and was mistaken for an incarnation of the god Lono -- relations soon soured.
Following the theft of one of his longboats, Cook attempted to take the island chief hostage to compel its return. The Hawaiians resisted and Cook was killed, along with several other men, as they retreated to the Resolution.
Cook's visit was the pivotal moment in Hawaiian history. Now that the white man had found the islands, he wasn't about to go away. A horde of British, American and other European visitors descended and it wasn't long before the Polynesian population was marginalized, subjugated and force-fed the joys of Christianity.
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