James Cook

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Images & Videos

James Cook: Pacific voyages

Experience a tour of the replica of HMS Endeavour with James Cook aboard the voyage

James Cook: brass sextant

John Webber: View of Huahine

James Cook, oil painting by John Webber; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

For Students

James Cook, oil painting by John Webber; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

James Cook summary

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James Cook: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Australian locality removing often-vandalized monument to British explorer James Cook • May 15, 2025, 4:59 AM ET (NBC)

Australian local government removes often-vandalized monument to renowned British explorer • May 14, 2025, 3:31 AM ET (ABC News (U.S.))

Facts

Born	October 27, 1728 • England
Died	February 14, 1779 (aged 50) • Hawaii
Awards And Honors	Copley Medal (1776)

Did You Know?

NASAs space shuttles "Discovery" and Endeavour were named after Cooks ships.
Cook named the Sandwich Islands in honour of his patron, the Earl of Sandwich.
The map Cook drew of Newfoundland in the 1760s was so accurate that it was still being used in the 1900s.

Photos and Videos

James Cook: Pacific voyages

James Cook: brass sextant

John Webber: View of Huahine

James Cook, oil painting by John Webber; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Experience a tour of the replica of HMS Endeavour with James Cook aboard the voyage

See All Videos and Images →

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake

English admiral

Title page of Richard Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation

Richard Hakluyt

British geographer

Humphrey Gilbert

Humphrey Gilbert

British explorer

White, John; Lost Colony

John White

British artist and explorer

Sir Samuel Argall

English sailor

Bartholomew Gosnold

English explorer

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

British naturalist

British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace

British naturalist

Francis Galton

Francis Galton

British scientist

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker

British botanist

Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt

German explorer and naturalist

Dana, James D.

James D. Dana

American geologist and mineralogist

Karl Ernst, Ritter von Baer

Karl Ernst von Baer

Prussian-Estonian embryologist

Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore of Baltimore

British statesman

John Alden

English colonist

Hugh Le Despenser

English noble, the younger [died 1326]

Priscilla Alden

English colonist

Hugh Le Despenser

English noble, the elder [1262-1326]

Lady Hester Stanhope

British noble

Beatrice Webb

British economist

Quiz

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Explorers and Explorations (Part One) Quiz