November 26 – Anniversary of the First European to See Maui

nPostednon November 26, 2013

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nInn1778, James Cook was already a well known British explorer,nnavigator, mapmaker, and captain in the Royal Navy.

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Henhad already surveyed and mapped the entrance to the Saint LawrencenRiver in Canada, and he had led an expedition to record the VenusnTransit from the Pacific island of Tahiti.

nHe had mapped out thencoast of New Zealand, become the first European to explore the eastncoast of Australia, and had claimed for England islands such as SouthnGeorgia and “Sandwich Land.”

nHe had searched and searched thenSouth Pacific for the hypothetical Terra Australis that many scholarsnthought MUST exist to balance out in the Southern Hemisphere all thenlandmass in the Northern Hemisphere. (Cook and others before him hadn“discovered” Australia, but it wasn’t large enough to qualify fornwhat scholars believed must be there.) Cook was able to firmlynestablish that there was no such huge southern landmass.

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nAndnthen there was Cook’s third and last Pacific expedition. He wasnsupposed to seek for a Northwest Passage—the long-hoped-for andnexpected way to sail from Europe to Asia, without having that peskynNorth American continent in the way. n

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nOnnhis way northward through the Pacific Ocean, in January of 1778, Cooknbecame the first European to see the Hawaiian Islands. Afterwards hensuccessfully explored and mapped the western coast of North America,nfrom Oregon to Canada to Alaska. When he returned to the HawaiiannIslands, he may have been thought to be a god named Lono—although when he returned to the islands for repairs he and his men quarreled and fought with the Hawaiians. During one of these fights, attack, Cook was killed.

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nAlthoughnCook saw Maui on this date in 1778, he didn’t land on the island,nbecause he couldn’t find a good harbor. Here’s what he missed:

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nHaleakalan is a dormant volcano, and when you stand at the top and look inton the crater, you can often see swirls of subtle colors on the cindern cones inside…unless you are lucky enough to see clouds inside the crater!

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nPoolsn of ‘Ohe’o (once called the Seven Sacred Pools) are a series of poolsn connected by waterfalls. People love to take a dip in these pools!

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nWaterfalls.n Lots of waterfalls. These days, the road to the Pools of ‘Ohe’o andn Hana features a waterfall practically at every turn. Each one moren lovely than the last. It took a long time for us to get to Hana,n because we spent so much time looking and photographing and evenn hiking to waterfalls and the jewel-like pools below them!

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nIaon Needle, a sudden, unexpected ridge covered with greenery. This lavan remnant rises 1,200 feet (370 m) from the valley floor. It looksn like a spire (or needle) when the ridge is viewed end-on.

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