Enlightenment · Oceania · Exploration

1770

Cook Lands at Botany Bay

April 29, 1770

The Endeavour anchored in a shallow bay on Australia's eastern coast. Joseph Banks collected so many botanical specimens that Cook named the place Botany Bay. The Aboriginal people who watched from the shore had lived there for sixty thousand years. Eighteen years later, the first convict ships would arrive at the harbor next door.