jan 18, 1778 - James Cook Encounters Hawaii

Description:

In January 1778 James Cook was leading an exploratory vessel across the Pacific Ocean when he became the first European to encounter the islands of Hawaii. The islands at the time were in inhabited by many native people divided up into communities and chiefdoms who farmed foods such as sweet potato, yams, chickens, and pigs.

Cook and his men anchored off the island of Kauai and engaged in peaceful trade with the locals before heading off to North America in search of a Northwest Passage through the continent. On his return journey a year later, Cook landed on the island of Hawaii hoping to trade more supplies; due to a disputed series of events, however, Cook ended up being killed by one of the Hawaiians in some sort of altercation.

Not long after their first contact with "the West", various chiefs along the archipelago began to fight each other for power and domination over the islands, with battles continuing until the 1790s.