Which 1770 expedition first charted a substantial section of the Great Barrier Reef for European navigation?

James Cook’s expedition first charted a substantial section of the Great Barrier Reef for European navigation in 1770.

Cook commanded HMS Endeavour during the voyage, which was commissioned by the British Admiralty and included scientific work led by Joseph Banks and other naturalists. After sailing along Australia’s east coast, Endeavour encountered the reef and navigated through difficult waters.

The expedition’s charts documented reefs, islands, channels, and coastal features that were previously unknown to European mapmakers. Endeavour famously struck a reef near present-day Cooktown and was repaired on the nearby coast before the voyage continued northward.

This was not the first human knowledge of the reef. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had long-established relationships with the region and its marine environments. The expedition was the first major European charting voyage, not the discovery of an unknown landscape in any absolute sense.