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00:00I'm off on the greatest journey of my life.
00:26250 years ago, a little-known British naval lieutenant, James Cook, was doing something similar, sailing into the vast Pacific Ocean.
00:40Ten years later, he's Captain James Cook and is known for what many believe are among the three greatest sea voyages of all time.
00:50I am following in his wake. I'm fascinated by Cook. I want to know him better.
00:58I want to see what Cook saw, go where he was forbidden.
01:04And I want to meet the people of the Pacific whose lives, for better or worse, were changed forever because Cook was there.
01:18And here, a disclaimer. Look, I'm not an historian. I'm not a navigator. I'm not a sailor. I'm not an expert at anything, really. I'm just an actor.
01:36But I am vitally interested. And I hope that you will be, too. And I hope that you will follow me as I follow Cook.
01:46Cook.
02:02Cook.
02:08When I was a boy, there was a huge old map on the wall of the classroom.
02:21It was a map of the world, and most of the world was coloured pink,
02:25which meant it was British.
02:26It was the old British Empire, which was supposedly a very good thing
02:30because it brought order and enlightenment and, above all, cricket
02:35to the darkest corners of the world.
02:41After Cook, there were barely any places in the Pacific that weren't pink.
02:50And here he is.
02:52Cook went to the trouble of sitting for this portrait between voyages,
02:56and we're told by one of his officers, Samwell, that this is a good likeness.
03:01And he certainly looks the part, rugged, resolute, a visionary.
03:07But who was James Cook, really?
03:13For those already in the Pacific, Cook's adventure might be seen more as a misadventure,
03:19one that might bring disease, dispossession and death.
03:23Not such a happy story at all.
03:26So, I want to see Cook's adventure, Cook's story, from both sides of the beach.
03:36This story starts in 1769.
03:40Eight months after having left England in an old Whitby collier,
03:43renamed the Endeavour, Cook was close to Tahiti.
03:48An island conquered and claimed two years earlier for the British crown
03:53by another naval officer, Samuel Wallace.
03:58Wallace extinguished any resistance by the overwhelming use of firepower.
04:04As they entered the Pacific, Cook's crew remembered Wallace's sailors' accounts
04:10of the fleshy delights to be found in the South Seas.
04:14Now they were desperate to get ashore.
04:18Cook, fully aware of their expectations, made a speech before anchoring.
04:24Rules.
04:26Number one.
04:27Do not ever trade for sex.
04:31Well, that was never going to fly.
04:37Cook dropped anchor here on April 13th, 1769.
04:42To his lice-infested, half-starved crew, after eight months of tedium and hardship at sea,
04:49this didn't just look like paradise.
04:52It was paradise.
04:54Wallace had made Tahitians nervous of visitors with cannons.
05:00Perhaps as a result, this time the British received an energetic welcome.
05:06I'm at the annual Haver Festival.
05:13It's a joyous celebration of Tahitian culture that runs for a rioters' fortnight.
05:21Dance, music, many competitions, and even a beauty contest.
05:26It's Miss Tahiti.
05:32Four and four.
05:35Mother, yeah.
05:36Always throwing me like Superman.
05:38Today's Haver is a reimagining of old traditions,
06:07lost since Cook,
06:09but now revived by passionate enthusiasts.
06:13One of the most popular is dance.
06:16This is the largest Haver dance competition in Polynesia.
06:25We're living today with the blood of our ancestors.
06:33Let's talk about just dance for a minute, recovering dance.
06:36The dance for me, the urithaiti, it's an expression of our happiness.
06:45You're shaking all your body from the head to your feet and your hips and everything.
06:50For love, for making love, for the beautiful flowers, for the beautiful fish, many fish, everything.
06:57Everything.
06:58Wow.
07:02When Cook was first confronted by a dancing Tahitian, he described it as a very indecent dance.
07:08We're shaking our body.
07:13Don't mean every time, oh, we want to jump on somebody.
07:17No.
07:19We're shaking our body because we are so happy.
07:22That time when they arrived,
07:27Wallis, Cook, our men,
07:30they just cover here,
07:33back,
07:34and our woman leave with,
07:36with, with the titty out.
07:39It's so nice.
07:41Sure.
07:42Well, I'm quite overwhelmed, to be honest.
07:55And for the British back then,
07:57Tahiti must have been as nothing they'd ever experienced before.
08:01Quite astonishing.
08:02When the British arrived,
08:06they were definitely seduced by this way of life.
08:10Here they had a beautiful landscape,
08:12honestly, objectively.
08:14Yeah.
08:18You have water everywhere.
08:21They had been drinking stale water for months.
08:23It's disgusting.
08:24Stinking biscuits,
08:26and they had scurvy,
08:27and they had lice.
08:29And so, of course,
08:30when they arrived here and they saw those people,
08:32they were clean,
08:34and always wearing scented flowers,
08:37and they were impressed
08:39because people would bathe twice a day.
08:42Of course,
08:43who wouldn't have been attracted?
08:47Of course,
08:48with all these things on offer,
08:50and no common currency,
08:52what to do?
08:55Is it tarot?
08:55No, it's a little bit.
08:57Turnip.
08:58Turnip?
08:59Yes.
09:00Ah, where's the tarot?
09:01Madam,
09:02you said tarot?
09:03Yeah, tarot.
09:04Yellow.
09:05Yellow tarot.
09:06Yeah, yellow.
09:07Jauneau.
09:11Soon, people learned to trade.
09:13There were only two things the British wanted,
09:16toa and vahini,
09:18pigs and beaming.
09:20And...
09:20Terrible when you say it like that.
09:22The visit of the dolphin under Wallace established a precedent.
09:30The British had one thing above all the Tahitians desired,
09:34the humble nail.
09:36The British, of course, desired the women.
09:39The trade was brisk,
09:40and over time,
09:41and over time,
09:41the women demanded more nails,
09:43and then longer nails.
09:47The men of the dolphin resorted to pulling nails out of their ship,
09:51which was close to sinking.
09:53So, something like this.
09:57Yes.
09:59Extremely valuable for a Tahitian.
10:01Why?
10:02Ah, because you can do so many things with a nail.
10:05You can go fishing,
10:07you can make hooks,
10:09you can engrave,
10:11you can use it as a drill.
10:13It seems such a humble thing,
10:15that could be so valuable.
10:18Yeah, it's just a matter of perception.
10:20And it bought so much.
10:21Yeah, but it's the way it was, so...
10:25Yeah.
10:26Yeah.
10:27Yeah.
10:30And speaking of cost,
10:32the Voyager's botanist, Joseph Banks,
10:34paid to go on the voyage.
10:42Handsome, isn't he?
10:43Joseph Banks,
10:45a man of wealth and taste.
10:48Banks was not an aristocrat,
10:49but he came from a background of wealth and privilege.
10:53So privileged, in fact,
10:54he paid 10,000 pounds
10:56to take him and his retinue on this voyage.
10:59This at a time when an average sailor
11:01would expect a salary of 14 pounds a year.
11:09Cook added to Banks' duties,
11:11making the wealthy botanist responsible for trade.
11:15And every morning he negotiated the day's prices
11:18in his tent on the beach.
11:20But clearly he had had other things on his mind.
11:26He was, let's face it,
11:28an energetic and lusty young man.
11:33He described a time when two women offering Tahitian mats
11:36undressed fully in front of him.
11:40Banks clearly interpreted there was more on offer than just mats.
11:44He writes,
11:45To both of them I made presents
11:47but could not prevail upon them
11:49to stay in more than an hour.
11:53Banks got it wrong.
11:55In Tahitian culture,
11:56disrobing was a mark of respect
11:58and not a come-on.
12:04Banks had a classical education
12:06and he considered Tahiti as Arcadia,
12:11an ancient Greek ideal of universal innocence.
12:15He soon found a flower to assist his fantasy.
12:18This is a plantation of tiari,
12:25the snow-white symbol of Tahiti.
12:28And this beautiful fragrance,
12:30when mixed with coconut oil,
12:32was liberally applied to the English sailors
12:34prior to sex
12:35in order to mask the stench of the English.
12:43So for the British,
12:45the Tahitians had everything that they wanted.
12:47I mean, it was perfect.
12:48Except when the Tahitians started stealing.
12:52Right.
12:53To the British, it looked like stealing.
12:55To the Tahitians, something different.
12:58Yes, definitely,
12:59because they didn't have the same sense of property.
13:03The English saw that as stealing,
13:05but they didn't see that they were stealing the fruit.
13:09They came here and cut down trees.
13:11Yes.
13:12They just couldn't imagine
13:13that trees were not supposed to be cut.
13:17They were fishing in the lagoon,
13:20ignoring the fact that,
13:21no, you can't fish anywhere.
13:25So they didn't see that they were thieves too.
13:28Ah, right.
13:29The bittersweet reality is that, ultimately,
13:35more than resources would be stolen.
13:38A whole way of life would be lost.
13:41A lifestyle brilliantly captured
13:43in these drawings by Sidney Parkinson.
13:46Bax's artist, barely 23 years old,
13:49perhaps saw the fragility of Tahiti
13:51more clearly than his shipmates.
13:53And without these paintings,
13:57knowledge of aspects of the culture
13:59would have been completely lost.
14:02Was Cook aware of the impending threat
14:05to the Tahitian way of life?
14:07Probably not,
14:08as his mission here had global importance,
14:11way beyond this tiny paradise.
14:14Cook wasn't just here for R&R.
14:18He was here to pursue science.
14:21His orders were to record the transit of Venus.
14:26This meant timing the planet Venus
14:28as it passed between the Earth
14:30and across the face of the sun.
14:33And why was observing the transit of Venus important?
14:36Because it could help establish longitude.
14:39And longitude, if you like,
14:40was the missing part of the GPS of the day.
14:42In the 18th century,
14:46more lives were lost than in warfare
14:47because captains didn't know where they were.
14:50They hit obstacles and sank.
14:55Solving the puzzle involved three observation stations,
15:00two in the Northern Hemisphere
15:01and Cook's in the Southern.
15:04As the only observer in the South,
15:07Cook's measurements would be critical.
15:09Making accurate celestial measurements
15:14required a secure platform.
15:16Cook spent weeks constructing Fort Venus.
15:20Earthworks, ditches, and palisades,
15:23complete with armed guards
15:24to protect the telescopes and quadrants
15:27essential to observe the transit.
15:30The Tahitians, of course,
15:31had no idea what it was all for,
15:33but they certainly realized
15:35that the objects inside
15:37were really, really valuable.
15:40The day after the observatory equipment was set up,
15:44local Tahitian distracted the Marine Guard
15:47and made off with the quadrant.
15:49This was no simple theft.
15:52Cook was furious.
15:53Without the quadrant,
15:54the entire mission would be a failure.
15:57The next transit of Venus
15:59would be in 105 years' time,
16:02so Cook's entire career was on the line.
16:09Cook, on his first voyage into the Pacific,
16:12had been in Tahiti for six weeks.
16:15He'd constructed a fort
16:16from which to observe the transit of Venus,
16:18but now his mission was close to disaster.
16:21From the theft of the most valuable piece
16:24of his equipment, the quadrant.
16:29Without the quadrant,
16:30Cook's voyage to Tahiti was valueless.
16:33He determined to recover it by any means.
16:38Banks set off across the island
16:40to where they heard the quadrant was hidden.
16:43Catching up with the thieves,
16:44he discovered just showing them his pistols
16:46was enough to recover the quadrant.
16:51The day of reckoning dawned,
16:58June the 3rd, 1769.
17:02From nine in the morning,
17:03Cook and the astronomer Green
17:05watched the tiny speck of Venus
17:07cross the face of the sun.
17:09On the other side of the island,
17:11Clark, another officer,
17:12was doing the same thing.
17:13And here on Moraya,
17:15Banks and his team
17:16were doing the same again.
17:18The entire transit lasted six hours.
17:24Cook was extremely anxious throughout,
17:27as there was a halo around the planet.
17:30Because of a blurring effect,
17:32Cook and Green were unable to agree
17:34on the exact time of Venus' entrance
17:37and exit from the sun.
17:38But as it turned out,
17:41they needn't have been concerned.
17:43And what's impressive about this
17:45was how accurate the data was,
17:48which wasn't approved for another 200 years
17:50when the radio telescope was invented.
17:57Venus was also very important
17:59to the Polynesians.
18:02It was the brightest object
18:04in the southern night sky,
18:06and it was known as Tarunui,
18:08the beautiful eldest daughter of Artea,
18:11who was the mother of all the stars.
18:14So perhaps Cook was unwittingly
18:16being drawn into the sphere
18:18of the Pacific gods.
18:23Banks was drawn to more profane gods.
18:25Venus was also the goddess of love.
18:29After observing the transit,
18:31three beautiful women joined him.
18:33And he writes boastfully,
18:35They agreed to send away their canoe
18:37and sleep in the tent,
18:38a proof of confidence
18:40which I have not before met with
18:42upon so short an acquaintance.
18:45Banks sees this as a conquest,
18:47but perhaps here he is the object,
18:49the object that is conquered.
18:55What to think of James Cook?
18:58He was of humble origins,
19:00the son of a farm labourer
19:01and self-taught.
19:03He was unusual in the Royal Navy
19:05where officers were appointed
19:07more by birthright
19:08and less on merit.
19:10He was commissioned for his seamanship
19:12and his skill as a navigator.
19:16As yet, he could not know
19:17that here in Tahiti,
19:19he was at the very centre
19:20of a great maritime civilisation.
19:23A remarkable man called Tupiah
19:33sought out Cook for friendship.
19:36Hi.
19:37Hi.
19:37Your honour.
19:38Nice to see you.
19:38Your honour.
19:39Hi.
19:40Nice to meet you.
19:43Cook was a navigator.
19:45Yes.
19:45But he came across so many navigators
19:47that were here already.
19:48He did.
19:49One of the navigators
19:52that Cook actually met here
19:54on this beach
19:55was Tupiah.
19:56So Tupiah was standing right there
19:58on the top of the hill
19:59when Wallace came
20:01and he discovered the power
20:03that those ships,
20:05the cannon,
20:06the metal...
20:08This is the bay
20:09where Wallace turns up.
20:11The canoes come out.
20:12Yes.
20:13They think they're being aggressed
20:15and they opened fire
20:17on the people on the beach
20:17and then two days later
20:19they fire cannon up onto that...
20:22They're killing the people
20:23at the top of that hill.
20:24Exactly.
20:27Like we say in the writings
20:29and the books
20:29that you had like tens,
20:31maybe hundreds of people
20:32dead on this beach
20:34right here.
20:35Hundreds of people dead.
20:36Tupiah
20:43Tupiah, recognizing the superiority
20:44of European weaponry,
20:46sought alliance with Cook.
20:50Contemporary artist Michael Tuffery
20:52has reimagined his meeting with Cook.
20:56Tupiah's gaze is far-reaching
20:58and it was.
21:00Cook saw him as a source
21:01of local navigational skill,
21:03not recognizing that Tupiah's knowledge
21:05extended far across the Pacific.
21:09He belonged to a vast tradition
21:11of master mariners.
21:15Tell me about Cook.
21:17What do you think?
21:18Good thing, bad thing?
21:20I have to tell you,
21:21I hate when I see documentary
21:22or films or even in books
21:24saying that the first discoveries
21:26of Tahiti were European.
21:29As if our ancestors weren't there
21:32or they're just part
21:33of the fauna and flora.
21:36When Captain Cook came
21:38and we wrote
21:39and they actually painted
21:40what they saw
21:41with their own eyes
21:42so we have pretty good records
21:44of what was here before.
21:49Polynesians are people
21:50of the ocean, basically.
21:51We are ocean people, yeah.
21:53So the ocean wasn't so much
21:55a barrier or a border,
21:56it was really a highway
21:58because they knew how to use it,
21:59they knew how to read it,
22:00and they understood how to build canoes
22:02and to go safely on the ocean.
22:05It's a freeway.
22:07It was a freeway
22:07and this is what we're trying
22:09to do nowadays
22:10is to reconnect ourselves
22:12with that knowledge.
22:13We still have a long way to go
22:14but we're doing it.
22:15since the time I was first introduced
22:23to the wa'a,
22:25it was hewa'a hemoku,
22:26hemoku hewa'a.
22:28The canoe is an island
22:29and the island is a canoe.
22:32So whatever experience,
22:34teachings that you may get
22:35on the wa'a,
22:36it's always your responsibility
22:38to bring it back
22:39to the land,
22:40to the community
22:40because it takes
22:42a whole community
22:43to build a canoe
22:44and to maintain a canoe.
22:45And it takes,
22:46it takes knowledge
22:47and cooperation
22:48to make a successful society.
22:50It does.
22:50A successful society
22:51as a whole.
22:52Today we also have
22:53to talk about
22:54our own tupuna,
22:55our own ancestors
22:56because we deserve it.
23:03Today's competitors
23:04at this championship
23:05would make their ancestors proud.
23:08I'm at the annual wa'a races.
23:12These are twin hull canoes,
23:14quintessentially Polynesian.
23:16And here we can see
23:16some of the love of the sea
23:18that Cook realized
23:19was the essence
23:20of Pacific culture.
23:23This is a nine kilometer race,
23:26flat tack all the way.
23:38This is the fourth accident
23:46we've found.
23:47This boat is also crapped out.
23:51They're in the water
23:52and there's some pretty
23:53choice language.
23:55Putain, putain.
23:56I don't know if you know
23:56what that means,
23:57but I'm not going to tell you.
23:59Popular winner.
24:11Right to the end
24:12they're going
24:13absolutely flat tack.
24:23What an amazing display
24:25of stamina and skill
24:26and teamwork.
24:28They're buggered now.
24:37Cook, with the transit
24:38behind him,
24:39was keen to continue
24:40his instructions
24:41to chart the island.
24:44Planning to circumnavigate it
24:45in a small boat
24:46along with banks,
24:47he sought a guide
24:49and interpreter.
24:50He asked Tupiah,
24:52who'd been quickly
24:52picking up English,
24:54but Tupiah refused.
24:55Revealing to Cook
24:58that his enemies
24:59occupied the far side
25:00of the island.
25:06Cook began to suspect
25:08that there was
25:08a dark side to Tahiti.
25:10Pacific Islanders
25:11lived in a benign climate
25:13with very little materialism,
25:15but this place
25:16was rife
25:17with factional divisions
25:19and civil war.
25:20in spite of his fears,
25:24Tupiah wished to join them
25:26near the end
25:26of their journey.
25:28He had something
25:29very important
25:29to show them.
25:35Cook and Banks
25:36embarked on a wonderful
25:37journey together,
25:38these two very different men.
25:41It was not without risk.
25:42They were a small party.
25:43They only had one musket
25:44and a couple of pistols
25:45between them.
25:47But everywhere they went,
25:49they were met
25:49with hospitality.
25:51People stripped to their waist
25:52as a measure of respect.
25:56As they continued
25:57around the island,
25:58they came across something
25:59that would be a first
26:01for European eyes.
26:08Cook and Banks
26:09dazzled to see
26:10something like
26:1110 or 12 Tahitians
26:12swimming and surf
26:14that would have killed
26:15Europeans,
26:16Banks thought.
26:18He was truly fascinated
26:19that some of the group
26:20were riding in
26:21breaking waves
26:22in an old canoe plank.
26:25Incredible swiftness
26:26with which they rushed in
26:27was fantastic,
26:28said Banks.
26:30And they stood
26:30admiring this very wonderful
26:32scene for a good
26:33half hour.
26:34Yep,
26:35they were watching
26:36surfing.
26:40Two-thirds of their way
26:53around the island,
26:54they met Tupaya,
26:56who had arrived
26:57unscathed.
26:58What he had to show them
27:00was a revelation,
27:01the biggest temple
27:03in Tahiti.
27:05Today,
27:05it is in ruins.
27:07The great Mariah
27:08of Mahai Artea,
27:10Banks called it
27:14a masterpiece,
27:15and it was,
27:16without doubt,
27:17Tupaya's
27:18greatest achievement.
27:23Today,
27:24I am visiting
27:25another Mariah,
27:26our Ahura.
27:34This beautifully
27:36restored Mariah
27:37gives you
27:37some idea
27:39of the one
27:40that Tupaya built,
27:41its power
27:41and its mystery.
27:44Except,
27:45it's on a much
27:45lesser scale.
27:46The one that Tupaya
27:47built
27:47had 11 platforms.
27:50This one has
27:50four.
27:52It was immense.
27:52It was 50 feet high.
27:54Ten years earlier,
28:00Tupaya introduced
28:01the cult of Oro
28:02to Tahiti.
28:04Oro was the god
28:05of war,
28:06worshipped in his
28:07home island,
28:08Raiatea.
28:09The people of
28:10Bora Bora
28:11had invaded Raiatea,
28:13and Tupaya
28:14had fled for his life,
28:15taking with him
28:16Oro's sacred objects.
28:17Tupaya designed
28:20and supervised
28:21the construction
28:22of his Mariah,
28:23while successfully
28:24converting the Tahitians
28:26to Oro.
28:29Tupaya was,
28:30among other things,
28:31a great diplomat
28:32and politician.
28:34At one point,
28:34he was the highest priest
28:36on all of Tahiti.
28:38By the time
28:39Cook and Banks
28:40arrived,
28:41Tupaya's authority
28:42had been usurped
28:43in a terrible war.
28:45The evidence
28:46was everywhere.
28:47Banks trod
28:48on the bones
28:48of the vanquished
28:49and fresh jawbones
28:50hung in houses.
28:52Tupaya was looking
28:54for a powerful new ally,
28:56and the British
28:57could be very useful
28:58new friends.
29:06Cook and Banks
29:07returned from
29:08circumnavigating
29:09the island.
29:10They'd stretched
29:11local resources
29:12to their limit.
29:13It was July,
29:14and it was the season
29:15of scarcity
29:16in Tahiti.
29:17And it became apparent
29:18that it was time
29:19to leave.
29:21But a couple
29:22of the Endeavour's men
29:23begged to differ.
29:25Cook had a desertion
29:27on his hands.
29:33It was time
29:34to leave Tahiti.
29:36Cook had recovered
29:37his stolen quadrant,
29:39recorded a murky
29:40transit of Venus,
29:41and successfully
29:42circumnavigated
29:43the island,
29:44and then the untoward.
29:51The night before
29:52the Endeavour
29:52was due to leave,
29:54two Marines deserted,
29:55Webb and Gibson,
29:56and they headed
29:57for the hills
29:58with their Tahitian
29:59girlfriends.
30:02These working-class lads
30:03were offered land,
30:05even servants.
30:06And then there's
30:07the matter of love.
30:08But it was not to be.
30:11Cook would not
30:12countenance
30:12such a thing.
30:14He seized half a dozen
30:16innocent chiefs
30:17as hostages.
30:18And after some severe
30:22negotiations
30:23and some diplomacy
30:24from Tupaya,
30:25the miscreants
30:26were returned
30:27and received
30:2824 lashes
30:29for their trouble,
30:31four times
30:32what you'd normally
30:32expect.
30:36But in the meantime,
30:37Cook was not to know
30:38that the manhandling
30:39of chiefs
30:40was considered
30:41highly blasphemous,
30:43tapu,
30:44forbidden.
30:44And unfortunately
30:46for Tupaya,
30:47the Tahitians
30:48associated him
30:49with Cook's
30:50hasty actions.
30:52His future
30:53on Tahiti
30:54was now bleak.
30:56He made
30:56the momentous decision
30:57to join the endeavour
30:59and travel
31:00to England
31:01with Cook.
31:03In the meantime,
31:04Cook planned
31:05to chart
31:05the nearby islands
31:07and Tupaya
31:08would be
31:08an invaluable guide.
31:11And to Tupaya,
31:12this was an opportunity
31:13to steer them
31:14to his birthplace,
31:16Raihatea.
31:18This journey
31:19would take Cook
31:19three days
31:20and I think
31:21I'll take another option.
31:29As someone
31:30who's often
31:31homesick myself,
31:32I can fully understand
31:33Tupaya's longing
31:34to return to his island.
31:37But what was
31:38so important
31:38to Tupaya
31:39to risk returning
31:41to a place
31:41now occupied
31:43by his enemies,
31:46Raihatea.
31:52Tupaya's dream
31:54was to bring
31:54his new friends
31:55to Tupatapu-Atea-Mari.
32:00Not only was it
32:01Oro's most sacred site,
32:03but it had
32:04enormous significance
32:05in the history
32:06of Polynesian settlement
32:07of the Pacific.
32:12This is
32:13such a strange
32:14spiritual place
32:16and I get
32:16the same sort of feeling
32:17here as I've had
32:18at, say,
32:19the pyramids
32:20in Mexico
32:20or at Stonehenge.
32:22And I'm unsure why,
32:24but clearly
32:25it was very important
32:27to Tupaya personally.
32:28Tupaya was a priest
32:34from here,
32:35from the site,
32:36actually,
32:37and then he
32:37basically was
32:38educated over here,
32:40he was trained here
32:42as a priest
32:43and also as a navigator.
32:49So tell me
32:50why is this important?
32:51It's important
32:52because the site
32:53is really a living testimony
32:54of more than
32:55thousands of years
32:56of Maui
32:57Polynesian civilization.
33:02Tuputapu-Atea
33:03is now thought
33:04to be where
33:05the great Pacific
33:06migrations left from
33:08in search of
33:09other islands
33:09to settle.
33:11The whole
33:12Polynesian triangle,
33:14including Hawaii,
33:15Aotearoa, New Zealand,
33:16Eastern Island
33:17called Rapa Nui
33:19and also Cook Islands,
33:21this is the living testimony
33:22that we all want people.
33:24We are ocean people.
33:26We are the ocean.
33:30It's also
33:31where the spirits return.
33:34It's Polynesia's
33:35motherland.
33:36It's hereafter
33:37and it's underworld.
33:41Any navigator
33:42that comes from
33:43this site,
33:44for example,
33:44Tupaya,
33:45is an ancestor
33:47for the sites.
33:49So when we come here,
33:50we know that
33:51the spirit of Tupaya
33:52is still there.
33:53And we come here
33:54the Maori knows
33:55that the spirit
33:56of their own ancestor
33:57is still there
33:58because it's like a hub.
34:01As a Polynesian,
34:02as a Raetan,
34:03my ancestry,
34:05my blood
34:06is part of that history
34:08and that's the reason
34:09why this site
34:10has to be also revealed
34:13to the world
34:13and as a part of its humanity.
34:16The first thing
34:20that strikes you here
34:21is how connected
34:23Tupaya Tupaya Teh
34:25is with the sea.
34:27It's almost like
34:28a pathway
34:29from the ocean
34:30to the land.
34:31Cook and Banks
34:39witnessed Tupaya
34:40conduct a ceremony
34:41to the god Aura
34:43with chants
34:43and offerings
34:44and asking for blessings
34:46for the rest
34:47of the journey.
34:50Taputapu Atea
34:51is not only
34:52a Marae,
34:53it's basically
34:54a whole complex
34:55of Marae
34:55and that complex
34:57was the starting point
34:58of worship,
35:00a cult,
35:01the Oro cult
35:02and on the Marae
35:03people were sacrificed
35:05and then they've been used
35:07to increase the mana
35:09of the ruling god
35:10of the Marae.
35:13So you can still find
35:14today,
35:15for example,
35:16some bones
35:17or human bones
35:18just underneath
35:19the pavement.
35:25At this Marae,
35:27the world of darkness
35:28met the world of light.
35:32Banks,
35:32oblivious to the consequences,
35:34thrust his hand
35:35into a shrine
35:36and brought out
35:37a sacred idol.
35:40This was sacrilege
35:41and were it not
35:42for Tupaya's intervention,
35:44Banks' crime
35:45would have been
35:45punishable by death.
35:51Later,
35:52on his third voyage,
35:54Cook took part
35:55in a ceremony
35:55that involved
35:56human sacrifice.
35:58It was traditional
36:00before warfare
36:00to prevent deaths
36:02and ensure victory.
36:11The victim
36:12was usually
36:13an unsuspecting slave
36:14clubbed on the head
36:15while gardening.
36:23Hopefully,
36:24that's not my fate.
36:31Indeed,
36:32the prayers
36:32offered today
36:33are for the health
36:34of these traditional
36:35medicinal plants.
36:41To be honest,
36:44I'm not quite sure
36:45what's going on.
36:46my friends here
36:57are a small group
36:58of enthusiasts
36:59looking for a less
37:00homicidal way
37:01to connect to Tahiti's
37:03pre-Christian pagan past.
37:05their rituals
37:10are something old,
37:11something new
37:12and something
37:14that they freely admit
37:15they've just made up.
37:17As religions go,
37:19it's joyous
37:20and harmless.
37:20look,
37:37Cook didn't pay
37:38too much attention
37:39to religious observance.
37:41His serious ceremonials were all to do with king and country.
37:54After Tupiah's ceremony, Cook then decides to conduct one of his own,
37:59one that he would repeat many times.
38:02He plants a flag and takes possession of Rayotea and three other islands
38:07in the name of King George III.
38:10This extraordinary European notion that if you were the first to plant a flag in a place,
38:17it became yours as of right.
38:20However, Cook was under orders from the Admiralty,
38:23with the caveat, with the consent of the natives.
38:27There can be no question of consent here, because we know that they weren't asked.
38:34The British crown did not follow up on Cook's sovereign claim,
38:37and for now, the Tahitians were left in peace.
38:41But not for long.
38:43Other empire builders from the west were close behind.
38:52Having raised the jack over Rayotea,
38:55Cook was confident that these islands would be forever British.
38:58British, it was not to be.
39:05This part of the Pacific would never be pink,
39:09and sadly was thus deprived of cricket.
39:12The French raised their flag in 1880 and have kept it flying ever since.
39:20So, Bastille Day,
39:23Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.
39:27I'm not entirely sure how that works in a Tahitian context.
39:32It's very grand.
39:34The growing demand for Tahitian independence is complicated by other fears.
39:46Yeah, I resisted getting into politics for many years,
39:50but, you know, it caught up on me.
39:52Stuff does.
39:53Yeah.
39:57Currently, what's the atmosphere with the Tahitian people?
40:00I'm quite sure it's going to stir up some mixed feelings among our people.
40:05Some of them are going to be very skeptical as,
40:08why are you attending this, you know, colonial party?
40:12Do they want independence?
40:13At the bottom of their heart,
40:14most of the Tahitians want independence.
40:17But there's this fear that has been instilled in our minds.
40:21We have to say French, otherwise we're going to die.
40:24We don't have the financial means to support ourselves.
40:27We don't have the people to lead us.
40:31We cannot be a full-blown nation.
40:33We have to stay under that French wing.
40:37With the missionaries, the colonists,
40:40what was lost and what has been regained?
40:44That's a huge question because, you know,
40:47some part of what was lost,
40:49we don't even know about it because it was lost forever.
40:53The traditions, the religion, the cults,
40:58that place we're sitting at used to be a marée here
41:02and now it's a parking lot.
41:07So this was a sacred place
41:09and now it's covered in Toyotas and Perges.
41:12Exactly.
41:13Well, that's what we call progress.
41:16That's right.
41:21The islands of French Polynesia
41:23were converted with extraordinary rapidity.
41:27The missionaries were extremely zealous.
41:33Granted, these men had the best of intentions,
41:36but in the name of the one true God,
41:37the one true faith,
41:38they destroyed old gods and old beliefs.
41:42They did all they could to ban tattoo,
41:45massage, nudity of any kind,
41:47dance, music,
41:49all the fun stuff.
41:51They made everything that was sacred profane.
41:55I think that's kind of cultural vandalism.
41:58But there's no vandalism here
42:05at the Haver Festival.
42:07The culture is coming back
42:09in surprising ways.
42:13I'm about to see something
42:14I really wasn't expecting at all.
42:16It's a fruit-carrying competition.
42:18It's all about strength and endurance.
42:20And I think an awesome demonstration, perhaps,
42:23of the kind of physicality
42:24that Cook and his men found
42:26all around the Pacific.
42:29I won't be taking part.
42:31Attention, pronoms.
42:32Tout le monde avec moi.
42:335, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!
42:39Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
42:48The fruit race is only one of many events at Haver
42:51that run for a fortnight around Bastille Bay.
42:54Once upon a time,
43:05this grand French military parade
43:07was the only show in town.
43:11Not anymore.
43:13Now Haver upranks it.
43:17And I know which one I prefer.
43:20This picture,
43:44as seen in Tahiti,
43:45is one of eight paintings
43:48by the same artist
43:49on Cook's first voyage.
43:51It shows extraordinary botanical knowledge
43:53with Tahitian trees and plants
43:56rendered in very fine detail
43:57on the page.
43:59It's very beautiful.
44:01And for the longest time,
44:03the identity of the artist
44:04was a complete mystery.
44:06But in 1997,
44:10research revealed the answer.
44:13In one of Banks' rediscovered letters,
44:15he wrote,
44:16Tupaya, an Indian,
44:18learned to draw in a way
44:19not unintelligible.
44:22Banks couldn't help but be patronizing.
44:25We know now that Tupaya
44:26was an areoi,
44:28a master of Tahitian arts.
44:30And these in an entirely new medium
44:32are remarkable.
44:41With Tupaya's help,
44:44Cook charted a handful of islands
44:45before departing Tahiti
44:47to fulfill the last of his instructions,
44:51to sail into the Southeast Pacific
44:53and look for the mythological
44:56Great Southern Continent.
44:58On the 9th of August, 1769,
45:02the Endeavour sailed away.
45:05Tupaya watched the islands
45:06dip under the horizon,
45:08his tears a premonition
45:10he might never see them again.
45:14Tupaya spends his time
45:15describing a staggering total
45:17of 130 different islands
45:20and makes a sketch
45:21of the islands around Tahiti.
45:23And of that, this remains
45:25a copy of a copy
45:27of Tupaya's sketch.
45:30And Rioter
45:31is plum in the centre.
45:36And what's incredible about this
45:38is that you see
45:39two worldviews coming together
45:41on the same page.
45:42Tupaya's knowledge
45:43and Cook's pen
45:45writing the names
45:46of the islands.
45:51It's a metaphor of sorts
45:53because nothing will be the same
45:55from here on in.
45:57The two worlds
45:58are now known to each other
46:00and the charts
46:01are filling in.
46:11The thing is,
46:12this is personal.
46:14You can look at me
46:15and say,
46:16he's European.
46:18But see,
46:19I don't really feel
46:20entirely European anymore.
46:22My family have been here
46:23in the South Pacific
46:24for 150 years,
46:25not that long.
46:27But now,
46:28my children,
46:29my grandchildren,
46:30they're Asian,
46:31they're Polynesian,
46:33Maori.
46:33And their ancestors
46:35have been here
46:36for thousands of years
46:37before Cook.
46:41And it's not so much blood
46:43that binds us,
46:44but the waters
46:45of the vast Pacific.
46:48We are all ocean people.
46:52Topiah and Cook,
46:56these two very different
46:57navigators,
46:58would soon turn
46:58their attentions
46:59to my homeland,
47:01New Zealand,
47:02the southernmost point
47:03of Polynesian migration.
47:07Their time there
47:08would firmly establish
47:09Topiah as a Polynesian icon
47:11and elevate Cook
47:13in the pantheon
47:14of maritime exploration.
47:22Topiah's
47:43Topiah and Cook
47:46Topiah
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