Légende

Human sacrifices at Otaheite (Tahiti), c1777-c1779. 'A Human Sacrifice in a Morai, in Otaheite; in the presence of Captain Cook'. Captain James Cook and his officers watching a group of Tahitians chanting as a man and some pigs are prepared for sacrifice. The man to be sacrificed is lying on the ground, tied to a pole, while in the background a macabre pile of human skulls is visible. This is one of the events witnessed by Cook, the famed navigator and hydrographer, during the second of his three exploratory voyages to the Pacific region in 1772-1775 when they crossed latitude 70 degrees - the furthest south then reached by Europeans. These voyages transformed our knowledge of the region. From a series of ninety drawings by J Webber, of the third voyage of Captain Cook.

Date

1777

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art

Notre référence

HRM25A14_387

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

49,9Mo (2,6Mo) / 42,6cm x 29,4cm / 5028 x 3472 (300dpi)

Mots clés

nature Europe animal tree unusual food people library ceremony animals music plant plants arts painting politics playing musician drum drums drummer drummers cooking cookery fire continent British skull skulls palm tree European ceremonial palm trees color palms Oceania French Polynesia custom Windward Islands instrument instruments native political war meat location century musical instrument musical instruments Britain victim Tahiti drumming explorer international relations concept sacrifice Navy controversy British Library tahitian europeans macabre warfare controversial Colour percussion instrument sacrificing naval warfare 18th century Eighteenth Century trees Royal Navy human sacrifice naval officer sacrificial TGN Captain James Cook James indigenous indigenous people Cook Captain James Captain Cook James Cook John Webber Webber John MARAE playing an instrument Otaheite Heritage Art morai