“Imagined Geographies and First Encounters” is the title of the 2026 special exhibition at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Whitby.  

The exhibition focusses on the following profound questions arising from the journals of explorers, such as Captain James Cook.  What unknown lands remained?  Where did all these very different looking indigenous people come from?  Were all humans originally one species, or did distinct races emerge separately?  Could humans be classified in the same way as plants or animals?  Were there different stages of human development?  

The Enlightenment was a transformative period in 18th-century Europe.  Exploration, science, and rational inquiry completed the map of the world, and reshaped how people understood it.  It was an era of curiosity, discovery, and speculation about lands and peoples beyond Europe’s familiar borders.  

This exhibition concentrates on the exploration of the parts of the world still unknown to Europeans.  It also outlines some of the first encounters between Captain Cook and indigenous communities across the Pacific from the New Zealand to the Northwest Coast of North America.  The exhibition reflects how these contacts influenced geography, literature and, even, children’s games, shaping perceptions of the wider world.  Beyond those early interactions, we consider how geographic knowledge developed, and is taught today to try and ensure that modern education promotes a broader and more nuanced understanding of peoples, places and their histories. 
 

Location: Captain Cook Memorial Museum, Grape Lane, Whitby, UK.

Find out more and how to visit:
https://www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk/visiting-us/special-exhibition-2026