Cook Islands History

The Cook Islands were first settled in the 6th century A.D. by Polynesian people who migrated from nearby Tahiti, to the southeast.

Spanish ships visited the islands in the late sixteenth century; the first written record of contact with the Islands came with the sighting of Pukapuka by Spanish sailors in 1595 who called it San Bernardo. Another Spaniard, Pedro Fernandez de Quirms, made the first recorded European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga in 1606, calling it Gente Hermosa.

British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and 1779 and named the islands the Hervey Islands; the name "Cook Islands", in honor of Cook, appeared on a Russian naval chart published in the 1820s. The first recorded landing on Rarotonga by Europeans was in 1814. As normally happened, trouble broke out between the sailors and the Islanders and many were killed on both sides. The islands saw no more Europeans until missionaries arrived from England in 1821. Christianity quickly took hold in the culture and many islanders continue to be Christian believers today.

The Cook Islands became a British protectorate at their own request in 1888, mainly to thwart French expansionism. They were transferred to New Zealand in 1901. They remained a New Zealand protectorate until 1965, at which point they became a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand.

On June 11, 1980, the United States signed a treaty with New Zealand specifying the maritime border between the Cook Islands and American Samoa and also relinquishing its claim to the islands of Penrhyn Island, Pukapuka, Manihiki, and Rakahanga. Today, the Cook Islands are essentially independent but New Zealand overseas the country’s defense.

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Cook Islands History

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Cook Islands Geography