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The Cook Islands are named after Captain James Cook, who visited the islands in 1773 and 1777. The Cook Islands became a British protectorate in 1888. By 1900, the islands were annexed as British territory. In 1901, the islands were included within the boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand. The Cook Islands contain 15 islands in the group spread over a vast area in the South Pacific. The majority of islands are low coral atolls in the Northern Group, with Rarotonga, a volcanic island in the Southern Group, as the main administration and government centre. The main Cook Islands language is Rarotongan Māori. There are some variations in dialect in the 'outer' islands. ==Early European contact== The Cook Islands were first settled around 600 AD by Polynesian people who migrated from nearby Tahiti to the northeast. Overpopulation on many of the tiny islands of Polynesia led to these oceanic migrations. Tradition has it that this was the reason for the expedition of Ru, from Tupua'i in French Polynesia, who landed on Aitutaki, and Tangiia, also from French Polynesia, both of whom are believed to have arrived on Rarotonga around 800 AD. These arrivals are evidenced by an older road in Toi, the ''Ara Metua'', which runs around most of Rarotonga, and is believed to be at least 1200 years old. This 29 km long, paved road is a considerable achievement of ancient engineering, possibly unsurpassed elsewhere in Polynesia. The islands of Manihiki and Rakahanga trace their origins to the arrival of Toa (an outcast from Rarotonga) and Tupaeru (a woman of high-ranking in the Puaikura tribe of Rarotonga)The remainder of the northern islands were probably settled by expeditions from Samoa and Tonga.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History of the Cook Islands: Pre-European )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History of Rarotonga & the Cook Islands: Polynesian settlement )〕 Spanish ships visited the islands in the 16th century; the first written record of contact from Europeans with the native inhabitants of the Cook Islands came with the sighting of Pukapuka by Spanish sailor Álvaro de Mendaña in 1595 who called it ''San Bernardo'' (Saint Bernard). Portuguese-Spaniard Pedro Fernández de Quirós made the first recorded European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga in 1606, calling it ''Gente Hermosa'' (Beautiful People).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rakahanga - Island of Beautiful People )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History of Rarotonga & the Cook Islands: European explorers )〕 British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and 1777; Cook named the islands the 'Hervey Islands' to honour a British Lord of the Admiralty; Half a century later the Russian Baltic German Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern published the ''Atlas de l'Ocean Pacifique'', in which he renamed the islands the Cook Islands to honour Cook. Captain Cook navigated and mapped much of the group. Surprisingly, Cook never sighted the largest island, Rarotonga, and the only island that he personally set foot on was tiny, uninhabited Palmerston Atoll. The first recorded landing by Europeans was in 1814 by the Cumberland; 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 remains the predominant religion today. In 1823, Captain John Dibbs of the colonial barque Endeavour made the first official sighting of the island Rarotonga. The Endeavour was transporting Rev. John Williams on a missionary voyage to the islands. Brutal Peruvian slave traders, known as blackbirders, took a terrible toll on the islands of the Northern Group in 1862 and 1863. At first the traders may have genuinely operated as labour recruiters, but they quickly turned to subterfuge and outright kidnapping to round up their human cargo. The Cook Islands was not the only island group visited by the traders, but Penrhyn Atoll was their first port of call and it has been estimated that three-quarters of the population was taken to Callao, Peru. Rakahanga and Pukapuka also suffered tremendous losses. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Cook Islands」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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