Historedia
Episode 1 of 2

First European arrival at Mangaia

When
29 March 1777
Where
Mangaia, southern Cook Islands
Part of
Cook's Discovery of Mangaia and Atiu

Captain Cook reached Mangaia on 29 March 1777, the first recorded European visit to the southern Cook Island.

On 29 March 1777, Captain James Cook arrived at Mangaia, an event recorded as the first coming of Europeans to the island. Mangaia, traditionally called A'ua'u Enua ('terraced island'), is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest after Rarotonga. The visit occurred during Cook's third Pacific expedition, as his ships moved north from New Zealand.

Sources

  1. Mangaia Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26
  2. James Cook Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.