James Cook Sailed The Pacific Ocean In The Context Of The Expansion Of The British Empire

Since the 16 th century,Britain has begun to build an empire,initially with the sole purpose of becoming an independent nation-state.But with the success of early European countries’ maritime activities and colonial expansion,driven by mercantilism,Britain demanded overseas hegemony,the establishment of a colonial empire,and the pursuit of "deserved" benefits for Britain.With the development of history,in the long-term competition with continental European countries,Britain gradually gained a dominant position,and after the end of the "Seven Years’ War" in 1763,Britain established the First Empire.Britain in the 18 th century was a period of imperial development.In order to further its trade strategy,the British Empire revived the plan to find the unknown southern continent,and the scientific question of how to reduce losses and improve efficiency when exploring overseas was also raised,and the Empire and science came together.It was against this background that James Cook sailed into the Pacific Ocean and embarked on a scientific expedition to search for the southern continent.During the voyage,he discovered many new areas and made full explorations and assessments of the local areas,accumulating knowledge for the British Empire.After two explorations,Cook proved that there were no supercontinent continents on the other side of the globe other than Australia.After the failed exploration of the southern continent,the British turned their objectives to explore the Northwest Passage according to the interests of the Empire,and Cook was once again appointed commander.However,due to the limitations of the times,the ice-breaking technology is not mature,and the Northwest Passage has not yet been discovered.Although Cook did not complete the task directly,Cook’s three voyages filled the geographical blind spots for Britain,expanded the knowledge of the Empire,and used empirical knowledge to incorporate the indigenous peoples,animals and plants of the Pacific region into the British Empire’s system,providing an important scientific basis for future colonization activities.Man belongs to his time,and Captain Cook’s sailing expedition undoubtedly opened the prelude to the colonial expansion of the British Empire in the Pacific Ocean.After the collapse of the First British Empire,in order to solve the problems left over from the independence of the Americas,the Pacific region entered the field of vision of Europeans and began the history of colonization.This has also brought deep disasters to the Pacific region,and the problems left over from colonial rule still plague the development of the Pacific region.