A sea of islands
Open the map in 1770 and zoom out over the Pacific Ocean. Find Tahiti, New Zealand, the east coast of Australia and Hawai'i. People had lived on all of them long before Cook. How did they get there?
Open this view on the mapPacific encounters · 1768-1779
James Cook and the Pacific
In three voyages James Cook charts more of the Pacific than any European before him. Students follow his ships from Tahiti to New Zealand, Australia and Hawai'i, meet the Pacific navigators and Indigenous peoples he encountered, and ask what these meetings meant for both sides.
- Length
- 50 minutes
- Ages
- 11–14
- On the map
- 3 steps, AD 1770 to AD 1779
- Live lesson
- 7 rounds, 3 on the map
- Worksheet
- Two A4 pages, with Classroom
- You need
- A projector; phones for live
Live lesson · new in Classroom
Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.
Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.
€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.
- 7 rounds
- 3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
- About 15 minutes
- Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
- A report
- Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
Introduction
5 minRead aloud
In three voyages James Cook charts more of the Pacific than any European before him. Students follow his ships from Tahiti to New Zealand, Australia and Hawai'i, meet the Pacific navigators and Indigenous peoples he encountered, and ask what these meetings meant for both sides.
By the end of the lesson, students can
- Trace Cook's voyages on the map and name three places he reached.
- Explain the scientific aims of the voyages, such as observing the transit of Venus.
- Describe the encounters from the point of view of Pacific peoples as well as Europeans.
Explore the map
15 minProject the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.
Two Pacific crossings
Open Stories and play the journey of Magellan & Elcano across the Pacific. Compare it with Cook's first route from Tahiti to New Zealand and Australia. What had changed in 250 years of sailing?
Open this view on the mapHawai'i
Zoom in on Hawai'i in 1779. In 1778 Cook became the first known European to reach these islands, then ruled by several powerful chiefs. Why were islands in the middle of the ocean so valuable to sailors?
Open this view on the mapClass discussion
15 minPick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.
- Scientists asked Cook to watch Venus pass across the Sun from Tahiti. Why would they send a ship around the world for that?
- The navigator Tupaia drew a chart of dozens of islands from memory. What does that tell us about Pacific navigation?
- Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain in 1770 without asking the people who lived there. Why is that still debated today?
- Cook's crews suffered less from scurvy than many earlier crews. Why did that matter for long voyages?
- Some remember Cook as a great navigator, others as the beginning of colonisation. Can both be true?
Game round
10 minPlay a round of Rule History as Catherine the Great. In 1778 Cook met Russian fur traders on the Aleutian island of Unalaska, subjects of her empire. Discuss: why were so many empires reaching into the Pacific at the same time?
Open Rule HistoryWorksheet
5 minThis worksheet comes with Classroom
€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.