Culture of the Cook Islands Culture of the Cook Islands The culture of the Cook Islands reflects the traditions of its fifteen islands as a Polynesian island country, spread over in the South Pacific Ocean. It is in free association with New Zealand. Its traditions are based on the influences of those who settled the islands over several centuries. Polynesian people from Tahiti settled in the Cook Islands in the 6th century. The Portuguese captain, Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, made the first recorded European landing in the islands in the early 17th century, and well over a hundred years later, in the 18th century, the
History of the Cook Islands landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga. 1773 — Captain James Cook explored the islands and named them the Hervey Islands. Fifty years later they are renamed in his honour by Russian Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern. 1821 — English and Tahitian missionaries land in Aitutaki, become the first non-Polynesian settlers. 1823 — English missionary John Williams lands in Rarotonga, converting Makea Pori Ariki to Christianity. 1858 — The Cook Islands become united as a state, the Kingdom of Rarotonga. 1862 — Peruvian slave traders took a terrible toll on the islands of Penrhyn, Rakahanga and Pukapuka