Cook Islands (53 images)

The Cook Islands are at the very centre of Polynesia. Its 15 islands cover an area of 2 million square kilometers. The islands are named after the great explorer Captain James Cook who first sighted them in 1773. In 1798 Captain Bligh, aboard the Bounty, sighted the island of Aitutaki and shortly thereafter, in a bloody mutiny, was relieved of his command by Fletcher Christian now known as "The Mutiny on the Bounty". The Bounty was then sailed into the port of Rarotonga.