Captain Cook: The Man Behind the Legend
- Episode aired Mar 14, 2009
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Questionable Attempt to Humanize an Arch-Colonizer
In this episode of the series, historian Vanessa Collingridge makes a brave attempt to humanize Captain James Cook. With the now-familiar combination of historical re-enactments, expert witnesses and direct-to- camera address, she argues that he was not only a brilliant compiler of charts, but he knew how to treat his crew while on lengthy voyages; unlike many seafaring men of that time, he made sure that they were adequately fed and looked after. But eventually he began to suffer through the strain of overwork and illness; this led to a radical change of character, and towards the end of his life he became something of a sadist. He was eventually hacked to death in Hawai'i by the local people. Collingridge concludes that he was something of a flawed genius. What the program doesn't really emphasize is that he was also a colonizer, willfully seizing land from the natives so as to further British interests, while paying little or no attention to local cultures. Rather than being a "flawed genius," he was an adventurer suffering from an excess of hubris; having been successful on two expeditions, he naturally assumed that he would do the same on the third. The treatment of his crew reflected that hubris; he did not really care for their welfare, so long as his authority could be sustained under any circumstances. In the end he got what he deserved, the result of an abortive attempt to crush the Hawai'ian natives in their own land. The program might appeal to patriots, but in truth it shows how some British historians are still reluctant to admit the destructive effects of colonialism.
- l_rawjalaurence
- Jun 15, 2014
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