Cook lands at Botany Bay - E.P Fox
Captain James Cook (1728 - 1779)
Plaque marks spot of 1770 landing
April 29th 1770: Cook lands at Botany Bay
On this day in 1770, Captain James Cook and his ship the Endeavour landed at Botany Bay, Australia. Cook’s ‘discovery’ of Australia and his claiming the land for Britain set the stage for further exploration of the nation and settlement by the British, initially using the island as a penal colony. This colonisation was accompanied with a campaign of violence and persecution against the indigenous Australians, and has left a legacy that is still felt today in modern Australia. Botany Bay is in Sydney, New South Wales and was initially called ‘Sting Ray Harbour’ by Cook due to the stingrays they caught there, but he later named it Botany Bay due to the vast quantity of plants there; it was later the site of the arrival of the First Fleet from Europe in 1788. After his seminal voyage to Australia, Cook continued his travels and undertook three voyages in total. On the third voyage, Cook landed in Hawaii where the indigenous islanders allegedly initially worshipped him as a god, as his arrival fit the story of the return of their deity Lono. However, relations soon soured, and Cook was eventually killed by native Hawaiians in 1779.
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