Exploration of the Pacific Map, 1765 - 1779

The Eighteenth Century was the heyday of exploration in the Pacific as the British vied with the French for control of the world's shipping and trading lanes. Captain Cook is the most famous of the region's explorers and he conducted much science alongside his voyages of discovery. He was sent to the region to track the transit of Venus from Tahiti and to discover if there was a habitable Southern Continent which he confirmed did not exist.