Citation needed for claims Captain Cook raped kids.
> And the use of "Polynesia" again.
Polynesia is a well established area, google Polynesian triangle to learn more. Yeah, there are three main language and genetic groups in the Pacific - Micronesian, Melanesian, Polynesian, but the Polynesians are the focus of this article because they're far more widely dispersed.
> The greatest sailing vessel of all was the Drua, developed in Fiji by Melanesians
No doubt. And it was rapidly adopted by the Tongans, Polynesians that had regular contact with the Fijians. Much how the Polynesians rapidly adopted the sweet potato of South America. The fact that they built a big ocean going canoe does nothing to detract from the navigational exploits of the Polynesians.
https://www.amazon.com/South-Sea-Maidens-Politics-Contributi...
IIRC that part is based on the diary of Georg Forster, who was the botanist aboard Cook's 2nd voyage.
Cook and his savages wreaked havok on the islands they came into contact with. Abductions, pedophilia and rape, and the diseases they brought decimated the populations.
Hitler (inb4 Poe's law) didn't personally drag people into gas chambers.
The man who "discovered" all these islands... islands that already had people on them... and then (according to the botanist on his ship Georg Forster) engaged in pedophilia, raping the children they found. They often took girls as young as 9 and 10, rationalising that this was acceptable because "Polynesian girls were sooner ripe".
> We went for eight weeks all over Polynesia
Wow, eight weeks in six or seven nations, and then writing with such authority on the subject. Tourists spend more time in one locality than she did.
And the use of "Polynesia" again. There are three groupings in the Pacific. The greatest sailing vessel of all was the Drua, developed in Fiji by Melanesians, not Polynesians. It could carry over 200 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drua