James Cook’s completed chart of New Zealand shows the course of the Endeavour as the ship circumnavigated the North Island and then the South Island. By charting New Zealand Cook proved that it was not, as many in Europe had thought, a northern extension of the Great Southern Continent.
Although remarkably accurate, the chart contains two notable mistakes. ‘Banks Island’ on the east coast of the South Island is actually a peninsula, while ‘Cape South’ at the bottom of the South Island is shown as a peninsula but is actually part of an island, now called Stewart Island.
