James Cook's landing marks the beginning of…
May 1770 CE
James Cook's landing marks the beginning of Britain's interest in Australia and in the eventual colonization of this new Southern continent.
The expedition's scientific members commence the first European scientific documentation of Australian fauna and flora.
At first, Cook had bestowed the name "Sting-Ray Harbour" to the inlet after the many such creatures found here; this was later changed to "Botanist Bay" and, finally, Botany Bay after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander and Herman Spörin.Because the young botanist on board the ship, Joseph Banks, discovers thirty thousand specimens of plant life in the area, sixteen hundred of them unknown to European science, Cook names the place Botany Bay on May 7.
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Australasia
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