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Episode 190

He wasn’t born into power. He wasn’t destined for greatness. But by the time James Cook sailed his last voyage, he had redrawn the map of the world.

From a humble Yorkshire farm boy to the most celebrated explorer of his age, Cook’s journeys were the stuff of myth—charting lands no European had ever seen, facing storms, starvation, and mutiny, and making first contact with entire cultures. He was a genius navigator, a man of science, and—depending on who you ask—a heroic adventurer or an agent of empire.

But his story doesn’t end with glory. It ends in blood, on the shores of Hawaii, where admiration turned to suspicion—and where one of history’s greatest explorers met his unexpected and violent end.

In this short history, we trace the life, voyages, and ultimate downfall of Captain James Cook—a man who changed the world, and paid the price for it.

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