
The Brutal Story of How Europe Conquered the Pacific
image edited by Fernando Kaskais By Simon Worrall Warning: It includes mutiny, murder, and mass rape. The HMS Bounty has become the most notorious ship in the British navy, its captain, William Bligh, a byword for brutality. On April 28, 1789, after setting sail from Tahiti, a group of sailors led by the charismatic Fletcher Christian mutinied, forcing their hated captain off the ship—and into legend. A year earlier, in another corner of the Pacific, the first prisoners were brought ashore at Botany Bay, in the British penal colony that would become Australia. [Find out how a National Geographic photographer discovered the bones of the Bounty.] In her new book, Paradise … Continue reading The Brutal Story of How Europe Conquered the Pacific