Mai (Ra'iatean man)
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Mai, also known as Omai in European countries, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the first Pacific Islander to visit Great Britain, and the second to visit European countries, after Ahutoru, who wa
Portrait of Omai, a South Sea Islander who travelled to Great Britain with the second expedition of Captain Cook – Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1776
Omai of the Friendly Isles by Sir Joshua Reynolds, c.1774
William Parry's painting Sir Joseph Banks with Omai and Dr Daniel Solander, circa 1775–76
James Cook
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Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer who led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first re
Mai (Ra'iatean man)
…to Ra'iatea, he was captured and taken to Borabora. Narrowly escaping death there, he escaped to Huahine. Mai met Samuel Wallis in 1767 and Captain James Cook in 1769 in Tahiti. In August 1773 he embarked from Huahine on the British ship HMS Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux, which had previously touched…
Portrait of James Cook c. 1775
This drawing of a Māori warrior by Endeavour artist Sydney Parkinson was published in his posthumous book about the first voyage.
Cook's first landing in Australia, at Botany Bay, was opposed by the Gweagal people.
HMS Resolution and Adventure retrieved ice to melt for drinking water. Watercolour by expedition artist William Hodges, 1773.