Which British explorer is credited with the European discovery of Hawaii? The answer is James Cook. Cook’s expedition became the first recorded European voyage to sight the Hawaiian Islands, on 18 January 1778, during his third Pacific voyage aboard HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery.
Cook’s ships first reached Kauaʻi, where the expedition landed at Waimea, and also visited nearby Niʻihau. He named the islands the “Sandwich Islands” in honour of John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich and First Lord of the Admiralty. Cook’s crew also noted cultural and linguistic similarities between Hawaiians and other Polynesian peoples they had encountered.
“Discovery” needs careful wording: Polynesians had settled Hawaii centuries earlier, and some historians have suggested that Spanish ships may have encountered the islands before Cook. However, no earlier European visit is securely documented, so Cook is conventionally credited with the first recorded European discovery. He returned in 1778 and was killed at Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii Island in 1779.