Biography

James Cook was, according to many people, the widest-ranging explorer who ever lived: he sailed completely around the globe three times, and discovered more territory than anyone else in history. On his first great voyage between 1768 and 1771, he found the whole east coast of Australia and New Zealand, and claimed them both for Britain. His second voyage, probably his greatest one, began in 1772. With his two ships, the HMS Resolution and the HMS Adventure, he sailed farther south than anyone before him - over 109,500 km! On 17 January 1773, he became the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle. He crossed the Circle two more times after that without sighting land - but on his third pass, he landed on South Georgia, naming it the Isle of Georgia. Later, he also discovered the South Sandwich Islands. Even after his first circumnavigation of Antarctica, he still failed to find the southern continent. His third trip (from 1776 to 1779), however, was not his most successful. He explored the Arctic coasts of North America and Siberia, but was sadly killed in 1779 by natives in Hawaii.