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This is CBS, I'm the world. I'm John Batch. So, visiting with Professor Nicholas Thomas,

his new book is Voyagers, the Seven of the Pacific. He's a professor of historical anthropology

at the University of Cambridge, and that's what we're doing here, history. But near history,

the mystery of Oceania begins with Captain Cook's first, second, and third voyage. Present

mysteries to be solved. Professor, who was Captain Cook? Why was he in the Society Island

in 1768? What was his mission?

So, Cook was a naval man, but he was above all an exceptionally accomplished surveyor.

And that's why the Royal Society and the Admiralty selected him in the 1760s to lead an expedition.

The ship was the Endeavour. They went to Tahiti, and the core purpose, certainly the ostensible

purpose was the observation of the transit of Venus. And that observation, that astronomical

observation was scientifically important. It was part of a coordinated set of observations,

and the Royal Society and colleagues internationally hoped to be able to measure the distance

between the Earth and the Sun. But Cook was also exploring the South Pacific, because

the British, among other European nations, were very interested to try and establish

whether there was a great Southern continent. They thought that a great Southern continent

might be a previously unknown land like China or India, that could be a key trading

...