History of the Cook Islands History of the Cook Islands The Cook Islands are named after Captain James Cook, who visited the islands in 1773 and 1777. The Cook Islands became a British protectorate in 1888. By 1900, the islands were annexed as British territory. In 1901, the islands were included within the boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand. The Cook Islands contain 15 islands in the group spread over a vast area in the South Pacific. The majority of islands are low coral atolls in the Northern Group, with Rarotonga, a volcanic island in the Southern Group, as the main administration and government
History of the Cook Islands Mendaña in 1595 who called it "San Bernardo" (Saint Bernard). Portuguese-Spaniard Pedro Fernández de Quirós made the first recorded European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga in 1606, calling it "Gente Hermosa" (Beautiful People). British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and 1777. Cook named the islands the 'Hervey Islands' to honour a British Lord of the Admiralty. Half a century later the Russian Baltic German Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern published the "Atlas de l'Ocean Pacifique", in which he renamed the islands the Cook Islands to honour Cook. Captain Cook navigated and mapped much