Surf Culture

Long before the Beach Boys encouraged an entire generation to catch a wave, Pacific Islanders were surfing—and explorer James Cook was one of the first Europeans to see it.

James Cook’s voyages to through the Pacific are credited with “helping to guide generations of explorers, as well as with providing the first accurate map of the Pacific,” writes Biography.com. His diaries and those of some crew members are still used by historians of the Pacific region, and his influence on Pacific history is felt up and down the coast. One little-known area of history that his crew members documented was surfing.