What else is turning 250 this year?

This year, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the final text of which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. The year 1776 has become synonymous with the United States of America, but there were in fact other things that happened that year, some of which also still affect the world today. So now that the fireworks are over, what else is turning 250? James Cook’s 3rd Voyage James Cook is probably the most famous 18th century navigator. His 3rd voyage commenced in July 1776. This was the first western voyage to reach Hawaiʻi, and Cook’s last, as he was killed in Hawaiʻi itself. Cook’s voyages came at the tail end of Europeans charting the world oceans. Soon, the 18th century image of an explorer landing on tropical shores in a captain’s hat (and dying of scurvy) gave way to the 19th century vision of an explorer cutting through jungles in a pith-helmet (and dying of malaria), then the 20th century image of an explorer…