�The Endeavour approaching Otaheite�, c 1772.

FRENCH POLYNESIA - JULY 16: Title page with engraving by Watkins after Huggins from �The voyages of Captain Cook� (1846). Captain James Cook (1728-1779), the famed navigator and hydrographer, transformed the West�s knowledge of the Pacific region. During the first of his three voyages, in his ship the �Endeavour�, he charted and claimed for Britain the east coast of �New Holland� (Australia). Cook visited �Otaheite� (Tahiti, French Polynesia) and brought a Tahitian back to London on his second voyage. The principal aim of his third voyage was to find a northern sea passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Returning to Hawaii in 1779, a fight broke out and Cook was stabbed to death. The passage was finally discovered by Amundsen (1872-1928) in 1902-1906. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)