On 16 February 1768, the Royal Society petitioned King George III to finance a scientific expedition to the Pacific to study and observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun.  Royal approval was granted for the expedition.

The Admiralty proposed James Cook, a naval officer with a background in mathematics and cartography. Acceptable to both parties, Cook was promoted to Lieutenant and named as commander of the expedition and Captain of HMB Endeavour.

This began the first of three historic explorations headed by Cook.  The first, after recording the transit of Venus from Tahiti, was an exploration of New Zealand and charting the east coast of Australia.  The second was in the South Pacific in a search for signs of the postulated continent Terra Australis Incognita.  No such continent was found.  The third was in the northern Pacific attempting to find the fabled Northwest Passage during which Cook discovered Hawaii which he called the Sandwich Islands.  He was killed in a riot of angry Hawaiians while there.