He was a sailor and eventually a British naval officer who saw action in the Seven Years' War, which you will no doubt remember from last week. But he's best known for his three voyages of exploration and scientific discovery that took place in the Pacific Ocean. The first was between 1768 and 1771, the second between 1772 and 1775, and the third between 1776 and 1780, although on the last one, Cook's journey ended in 1779 because he died. And as you can see from the map, Cook pretty much owned the Pacific. He mapped the coast of Australia, paving the way for British colonization and also paving the way for the near destruction of Aboriginal peoples and their culture. As with the Columbian Exchange, Cook's voyages to Australia remade the biological landscape. He introduced sheep, which paved the way for Australia's huge wool industry.