Captain James Cook’s voyages in the South Pacific in the late 1700s exemplify the law of unintended consequences. He set out to find a westward ocean passage from Europe to Asia but instead, with the maps he created and his reports, Cook revealed the Pacific islands and their people to the world. In recent decades, Cook has been vilified by some scholars and cultural revisionists for bringing European diseases, guns and colonization. But Hampton Sides’ new book, “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook,” details that Polynesian island life and cultures were not always idyllic. Priests sometimes made human sacrifices. Warriors mutilated enemy corpses. People defeated in battle sometimes were enslaved. King Kamehameha, a revered figure in Hawaii, unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1810 at a cost of thousands of warriors’ lives. |
US court rejects a request by tribes to block $10B energy transmission project in ArizonaThe Taliban suspend two TV stations in Afghanistan for neglecting Islamic and national valuesFrom amazing food to swanky hotels and electrifying sportStock market today: Asian benchmarks are mixed while US seems committed to current ratesIndia elections 2024: Colorful roadshows, rallies mark start of poll seasonInfluencer Laura Lee reveals she spent $2,000 buying Kylie Jenner's USED designer shoesThe Taliban suspend two TV stations in Afghanistan for neglecting Islamic and national valuesSouthern California city council gives a key approval for Disneyland expansion planInfluencer Laura Lee reveals she spent $2,000 buying Kylie Jenner's USED designer shoesEuropean far