French Polynesia island of Rekareka to the southeast of Tahiti. Over a century later, British explorer Samuel Wallis visited Tahiti in 1767. French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville also visited Tahiti in 1768, while British explorer James Cook arrived in 1769. In 1772, the Spanish Viceroy of Peru Don Manuel de Amat ordered a number of expeditions to Tahiti under the command of Domingo de Bonechea who was the first European to explore all of the main islands beyond Tahiti. A short-lived Spanish settlement was created in 1774, and for a time some maps bore the name "Isla de Amat" after Viceroy
George Anson (British Army officer, born 1769) Olympic rower, is a direct descendant of Sir George Anson. George Anson (British Army officer, born 1769) General Sir George Anson, GCB (1769 – 4 November 1849), was a British officer and politician from the Anson family. He commanded a British cavalry brigade under the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War and sat for many years as a Whig Member of Parliament. Anson was the second son of George Anson (previously Adams) and his wife The Hon. Mary Vernon, daughter of the first Lord Vernon. He had an elder brother, Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson, and a younger brother,