What did Cook do in New Zealand?a) he collected plants and flowers b) he made a map of the coastline Captain James Cook was an English explorer, navigator and map-maker. He is famous because he was the captain of the first European ship to visit the east coast of Australia. Cook was born in 1728, in the north-east of England. At the age of 18 he decided to become a sailor and he began working on local ships. Later, he studied navigation, map-making and astronomy and joined the Navy in 1755. In 1763 and 1764, Cook sailed to North America and made the first maps of the coastline of Newfoundland, which is now part of Canada. Cook’s most famousvoyage was made between 1768 and 1771, when he sailed around the world. His ship left England on the 26th of August, 1768, and sailed south-west across the Atlantic and round Cape Horn in South America. Then they sailed across the Pacific Ocean and reached New Zealand on the 6th of October, 1769. Cook and his crew were only the second group of Europeans to visit the country. Cook made maps of the coastline of New Zealand and then sailed west to the south-east coast of Australia. They were the first Europeans ever to reach Australia’s easterncoastline. They landed at a place which is now called Botany Bay. Cook’s sailors gave the place this name because there were so many amazing plants and flowers there. They finally returned to England on the 12th of July, 1771, almost three years after they set off on their epic journey.