Tuesday, January 18, 2011

TODAY IN HISTORY

JANUARY 18
1778:Capt. James Cook and the crew of HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery sail past the islands of Oahu and Kauai, becoming the first known Europeans to discover the present-day Hawaiian Islands. Cook names the island group the Sandwich Islands, after his patron, the fourth Earl of Sandwich.

1788: Commanded by Capt. Arthur Phillip, the first of 11 British ships arrives in Botany Bay to establish the first European colony in Australia. Eight days later, a date now commemorated as Australia Day, the passengers of the First Fleet, including hundreds of convicts, marines and their families, will disembark at Sydney Cove as the founders of modern Australia.

1912: English explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his expedition reach the South Pole, more than a month after a team led by his Norwegian rival, Roald Amundsen, became the first people to find the pole. Scott’s expedition will be less fortunate on the return journey, as well—he and his team members will all perish during the harsh trip back to their base camp.

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