1795 Dutch Edition of Cook's Map of the Friendly Islands (Tonga)

FriendlyIsles-cook-1795
$300.00
Kaart van de Vrienden Eilanden / [Map of the Friendly Islands]. - Main View
Kaart van de Vrienden Eilanden / [Map of the Friendly Islands]. - Main View
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1795 Dutch Edition of Cook's Map of the Friendly Islands (Tonga)

FriendlyIsles-cook-1795

Disseminating knowledge gained during Cook's voyages.
$300.00

Title

Kaart van de Vrienden Eilanden / [Map of the Friendly Islands].
  1795 (undated)     13 x 9.5 in (33.02 x 24.13 cm)     1 : 700000

Description

This is a rare c. 1795 Dutch edition of a map of the Friendly Islands (Tonga) prepared by Captain James Cook, based on his voyage to the islands in 1773 - 1774. It was originally published in 1777 in tandem with Cook's account of his voyages, A voyage towards the South pole, and round the world.
A Closer Look
Oriented to the east, this map depicts the Tongatapu Island Group and the Ha'Apai Group that make up the Kingdom of Tonga. The routes of the Resolution and the Adventure on Captain Cook's second voyage (1772 - 1774) are illustrated. Cook's second voyage was intended to discover the apocryphal Terra Australis, a theoretical southern continent that is not to be confused with Australia or Antarctica. He landed at the portion of the Friendly Islands laid out on this map on the return portion of his voyage in 1773 and 1774, and received a friendly reception, which is the source of the name for the islands in European languages.
Publication History and Census
This map is based on the original English edition, 'Chart of the Friendly Islands,' which was published in London by Thomas Cadell and William Strahan in 1777, and then published regularly in English and other languages in the following years. This edition is a Dutch translation variously dated to 1795, 1798, and 1803.

Cartographer

Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 - 14 February 1779) is a seminal figure in the history of cartography for which we can offer only a cursory treatment here. Cook began sailing as a teenager in the British Merchant Navy before joining the Royal Navy in 1755. He was posted in America for a time where he worked Samuel Holland, William Bligh, and others in the mapping of the St. Lawrence River and Newfoundland. In 1766 Cook was commissioned to explore the Pacific and given a Captaincy with command of the Endeavour. What followed were three historic voyages of discovery, the highlights of which include the first European contact with eastern Australia, the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands (among many other Polynesian groups), the first circumnavigation of New Zealand, some of the first sightings of Antarctica, the first accurate mapping of the Pacific Northwest, and ultimately his own untimely death at the hands of angry Hawaiians in 1779. The influence of Cook work on the mapping and exploration of the Pacific cannot be understated. More by this mapmaker...

Condition

Very good. Some wear along edges.