30 COOK, James. Complete set of the three voyages. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell [and others], 1773–85 “opening up the pacific to western civilization” A complete set of the official accounts of Cook’s three world- changing Pacific voyages. The second voyage is in the first edition, the first and third voyages in the often-preferred second editions (the first expanded with a new preface, the third reset with superior type and printed on finer paper). “Cook earned his place in history by opening up the pacific to western civilization and by the foundation of British Australia. The world was given for the first time an essentially complete knowledge
of the Pacific Ocean and Australia, and Cook proved once and for all that there was no great southern continent, as had always been believed. He also suggested the existence of antarctic land in the southern ice ring, a fact which was not proved until the explorations of the nineteenth century” ( PMM ). Cook’s many discoveries resulted in British claims in Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, the last of which he regarded as his most valuable discovery but where he met his death. “Captain Cook’s three great voyages form the basis for any collection of Pacific books. In three voyages Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors had done together. He was the first really scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge” (Hill).
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