text: James Cook - Explorer, Age of Exploration for Kids
  James Cook is credited with exploring the South Pacific, and the coastline of Australia and New Zealand. He found many island in the South Pacific, many of which had never been discovered before. He found Hawaii!
  In 1776, when the American Revolution broke out on the east coast of the New World, Cook was exploring the west coast, seeking passage by water from the Pacific to the Atlantic. He sailed nearly up to the Arctic Circle in his search, but could not find a water route west to east across America.
  He returned to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778/79, and was killed by the natives on Valentine's Day in 1779.