dutch navigator abel tasman was the first known european visitor to fiji, sighting the northern island of vanua levu and the north taveuni archipelago in 1643. james cook, the british navigator, visited one of the southern lau islands in 1774. it was not until 1789, however, that the islands were charted and plotted, when william bligh, the castaway captain of , passed ovalau and sailed between the main islands of viti levu and vanua levu en route to batavia, in what is now indonesia. bligh water, the strait between the two main islands, is named after him, and for a time, the fiji islands were known as the "bligh islands."