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James Cook and Tupaia - Why did they go?

James Cook and the crew of HMB Endeavour left England in 1768 on a global voyage of discovery. They hoped to learn more about the solar system, collect plants and animals that were new to science, and find new land for Britain. The voyage started a chain of events that would change Australia and New Zealand forever.  

Read on to find out more about what the world was like in the middle of the 18th century and the aims of the Endeavour voyage.

What the British knew of the world in the 1700s

In the year 1768, the world was a very different place. There were no phones, planes or internet, so when people wanted to leave their homelands, they had to travel across the ocean.

The map below shows what the world looked to Europeans before Cook’s voyage.

A map from a British voyage in 1699

[icon] Look carefully at the map to answer the questions below.

Great Britain in the 1700s

In the 1700s the British government was actively expanding their presence across the globe. The British Empire was growing from a small island in Europe to a vast empire that spread all over the world. British and European explorers and settlers sailed across the world and established colonies in America, Asia and Africa.

The Royal Society was a non-governmental group who championed Enlightenment ideas such as scientific knowledge.

London in the 1790s

Hand-coloured engraving of a busy riverside worksite at Woolwich, Kent. Workers move wheelbarrows and timber beside large mounds of earth, while prison hulks and sailing ships lie anchored in the river behind them. Buildings, cranes and boats fill the waterfront scene.

A View near Woolwich in Kent Shewing the Employment of the Convicts from the Hulks (1790-1800). ANMM Object number 00040601

[icon] The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and cultural movement in Europe at the time, which questioned the church's beliefs by seeking truth in science and reason.

The reasons for the Endeavour voyage

The Lords of the Admiralty provided instructions to Cook outlining the objectives they wanted him to achieve, the route he was to take and the way he and his men must undertake the expected activities.  

[icon] The admiralty is the section in the government responsible for the Royal Navy. 

 

There were three main goals for this voyage:

1. To record the transit of Venus from Tahiti in June 1769

2. To observe and record the natural flora and fauna

3. Secret instructions which were not to be revealed until the first task was complete.

 

[icon] The transit of Venus is a rare event when the planet passes between Earth and the Sun. Venus appears as a small black dot passing across the Sun’s surface. By making measurements and observations of the transit of Venus, scientists can work out the distance between the Earth and the sun.

Secret instructions

The first instructions were to sail to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus. After this was completed, Cook opened a second set of secret orders, which instructed him to go in search of Terra Australis - the Great South Land.

Cook's secret instructions from the Admiralty

The secret orders included the instruction:

You are also with the Consent of the Natives to take Possession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name of the King of Great Britain: Or: if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession for his Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors.