The Amazing Life and Strange Death of Captain Cook: Crash Course World History #27

CrashCourse
26 Jul 201210:32
EducationalLearning
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TLDRThis Crash Course World History video discusses the life and controversial death of British explorer Captain James Cook. It covers Cook's Pacific voyages mapping Australia and New Zealand, dispelling myths like Terra Australis, and combatting scurvy. His death in Hawaii sparked debate between anthropologists Marshall Sahlins and Gananath Obeyesekere over whether natives saw Cook as the god Lono or killed him amid rising tensions over européan actions. The video argues we often present unchecked versions of native views and highlights the need to acknowledge our biases despite difficulties accurately depicting other perspectives.

Takeaways
  • 😊 Captain James Cook was an 18th century British explorer who made important voyages and discoveries in the Pacific Ocean
  • 😮 Cook mapped much of the Australian coastline and contributed to the British colonization of Australia and New Zealand
  • 🏝 Cook was the first European to provide detailed descriptions of Hawaii and other Pacific islands
  • 👨‍🔬 Cook's voyages increased European scientific knowledge by mapping, charting and classifying newly explored lands
  • 😕 Cook's voyages enabled European colonization and often had devastating impacts on indigenous peoples and cultures
  • 🤔 There is an historical debate around why Cook was killed in Hawaii in 1779 during his third voyage
  • 😲 One theory is that Hawaiians saw Cook as the god Lono and killed him as part of a religious ritual
  • 🤨 An opposing view criticizes this theory as perpetuating stereotypes of Hawaiians as primitive
  • 🔪 The truth is probably that rising tensions between Cook's crew and Hawaiians led to a violent melee in which Cook was killed
  • 📜 European accounts dominate the records about Cook, making it difficult to reconstruct the Indigenous Hawaiian perspective
Q & A

  • What were Captain Cook's three voyages of exploration about?

    -Captain Cook's three voyages of exploration between 1768-1780 were about exploration and scientific discovery in the Pacific Ocean. He mapped the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, explored Hawaii, dispelled myths about Terra Australis, and studied the prevention of scurvy.

  • How did Captain Cook's voyages impact Australia and New Zealand?

    -Cook's voyages paved the way for British colonization and settlement in Australia and New Zealand. His mapping enabled the wool industry in Australia and the establishment of a penal colony.

  • Why was Captain Cook killed in Hawaii?

    -There are differing viewpoints. One holds that Hawaiians saw Cook as the god Lono and his death was part of a ritual. Another view is that rising tensions led to a chaotic clash where Cook attempted to take the King hostage.

  • What was the Makahiki festival about?

    -The Makahiki was a Hawaiian festival for the fertility god Lono, spanning several months. An image of Lono toured and collected taxes. At the end, Lono was symbolically defeated marking the return of the war god Ku's rule.

  • What criticisms did Obeyesekere have of the theory that Cook was seen as Lono?

    -Obeyesekere criticized it as seeming more like a European myth than Hawaiian ritual. Cook seemed more akin to the war god Ku. Linking Cook with fertility didn't fit given Europeans introduced gonorrhea.

  • What other factors likely led to Cook's death?

    -Rising tensions as Europeans dismantled a Hawaiian ritual space for firewood and Cook trying to take the King hostage over stolen goods likely sparked chaotic clashes leading to Cook's death.

  • Why might the theory of Cook as Lono persist?

    -It fits with other exaggerated explorer narratives. It also strengthens stereotypes about enlightened Europeans versus primitive natives to have Cook seen as a god by Hawaiians.

  • Why is it hard to construct a Hawaiian narrative of Cook's death?

    -We lack native Hawaiian records, with most accounts being European. Constructing a native narrative risks imputing scripted reactions versus recognizing Hawaiian agency.

  • What biases may affect views of native peoples in history?

    -We often make statements about native groups without their own historical records, imagining how they saw events. Our inability to escape biases makes accurately portraying their perspective challenging.

  • Why try to understand native viewpoints in history despite the difficulty?

    -Trying to approximate other perspectives is still important even if limited, rather than using bias as an excuse not to try at all. It enhances understanding of history.

Outlines
00:00
🤵 Introducing Captain James Hook as the topic, then the realization it is Captain Cook

The host John Green starts by mistakenly introducing Captain James Hook, realizing it should be Captain James Cook. He provides some context around Cook's background as a British Naval Officer who is best known for his three voyages of exploration in the Pacific Ocean between 1768-1780. Cook mapped much of the Pacific coastlines of Australia and New Zealand, dispelled myths about Terra Australis, and was the first European to describe Hawaii. His crew was also kept free of scurvy thanks to his leadership.

05:01
📝 Interpretations around Captain Cook's death in Hawaii

This section discusses the controversial interpretations around how and why Captain Cook died in Hawaii in 1779 during his third voyage. The traditional view by Marshall Sahlins is that Cook was killed for religious reasons relating to the Hawaiian rituals around their gods Ku and Lono. A critique of this view by Gananath Obeyesekere is provided, arguing there is little evidence Hawaiians would have seen Cook as the god Lono. The truth may have simply been rising tensions and a chaotic skirmish between the crews rather than a ritualistic religious killing.

10:04
🤔 Questioning historical biases in recounting Captain Cook's death

The host concludes by questioning whose perspective the story of Captain Cook's death is actually being told from in most historical accounts, arguing it is overwhelmingly from the European perspective rather than the Native Hawaiian one. This raises issues around paternalism, agency of indigenous peoples, and the inability to fully escape inherent biases as historians.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡Exploration voyages
The video discusses Captain Cook's three voyages exploring and mapping out areas of the Pacific Ocean, including the coasts of Australia and New Zealand between 1768 and 1779. His journeys opened the way for later colonization and trade while also enhancing European scientific knowledge.
💡Colonization
The video highlights how Cook's voyages enabled later European colonization and settlement in Australia and New Zealand, substantially changing those places both culturally and ecologically.
💡Australia and New Zealand
The video jokingly celebrates finally discussing Australia and New Zealand in the series, places impacted by Cook's Pacific voyages and later settled/colonized by the British.
💡Terra Australis
The mythical 'Unknown Southern Land' Europeans speculated about for centuries, which Cook helped confirm did not exist through his Pacific explorations.
💡Scurvy prevention
On his voyages, Cook pioneered methods to prevent scurvy among sailors through diet and cleanliness, helping reduce mortality rates.
💡Hawaii
The video focuses on Cook's visits to Hawaii in 1779, where he was killed in a violent confrontation with islanders, sparking an interpretive debate.
💡Ritual murder theory
One theory claims Hawaiians saw Cook as the god Lono so killed him ritually, but it likely says more about European myths than actual events.
💡Obeyesekere's criticism
Obeyesekere challenged the Hawaiian ritual murder theory of Cook's death for relying on European stereotypes not evidence about Hawaiian beliefs.
💡Melee
Rather than a planned ritual sacrifice, Cook's death likely occurred amidst a chaotic violent clash between his crew and Hawaiians over miscommunications and escalating misunderstandings.
💡Bias in historical narratives
The video emphasizes critically examining whose perspective and biases shape dominant historical accounts like that around Cook's death.
Highlights

Cook mapped the coast of Australia, paving the way for British colonization and destruction of Aboriginal peoples and culture.

Cook introduced sheep to Australia, paving the way for a huge wool industry and growth from 1,000 to 1.2 million Anglo-Australians in 80 years.

Cook explored and mapped New Zealand, paving way for colonization and letting Crash Course announce covering Australia and New Zealand.

Cook determined there was no continent of "Terra Australis" and helped dispel the idea of a North-West Passage Europeans were obsessed with.

Cook's voyages contributed to Europe's romantic fascination with science in 18th and 19th centuries with mapping, charting, and classifying.

Europeans portrayed themselves as a civilizing force bringing both science and religion while colonizing and extracting wealth.

Cook was killed in Hawaii in February 1779 after initially friendly relations turned tense over Europeans dismantling a Hawaiian ritual space.

The traditional view is Cook was killed for religious reasons, seen as the god Lono who had to be defeated ritually.

Criticisms are that Europeans wouldn't easily confuse Cook with Lono and Hawaiians seeing Europeans as gods has troubling implications.

Rising tensions likely led to Cook's death, including Europeans dismantling a Hawaiian ritual space and attempting to take a King hostage.

Making Cook a god sets up a contrast between the West's enlightenment and Polynesia's "primitive religion".

The idea of Cook as a god fits a framework of portraying explorers as gods to native peoples seen as savages.

We must ask who is telling these stories and be careful making statements about native peoples' perspectives we can't fully know.

Is it possible to present a native, Hawaiian version of Cook's death or is that exercise inherently condescending?

Our inability to escape our biases isn't an excuse for not trying to understand other perspectives.

Transcripts

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