James Cook: Did you mean...?

James K. Polk (1795-1849) as Speaker of the US House of Representatives (1835-1839). Artwork by Charles Fendrich, printed by Peter S. Duval, 1838. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

A c. 1502 parchment illustration showing James IV of Scotland (r. 1488 to 1513 CE) kneeling in prayer to an altarpiece. Behind him is Saint James. (Hours of James IV of Scotland, Austrian National Library, Vienna)

A c. 1672 painting by Henri Gascar of James, Duke of York, (1633-1701). James is shown in characteristic martial pose - specifically the Roman god of war Mars - and drawing on classical imagery. James served as Lord High Admiral, hence the...

William Dampier (1651-1715) was an English explorer, navigator, and naturalist, who was the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He was also among the first Englishmen to step foot on Australian soil when he sailed into King...

Painting of James I of England wearing the jewel called the Three Brothers in his hat, after John de Critz, c. 1605 CE. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

Portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots (r. 1542-1567) and her son James I of England (r. 1603-1625). Painted in 1583. (Blair Castle, Perthshire, Scotland)

A 1621 portrait of James I of England (r. 1603-1625) by Daniel Mytens. The king is wearing the insignia of the Order of the Garter. National Portrait Gallery, London.

Statue of James I of England (r. 1603-1624), designed by John Clark, 1620. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, England.

A portrait of Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (center) at the Siege of Yorktown; on the right is depicted James Armistead, an enslaved African American spy who gathered intelligence on the British army to deliver to the marquis. After...

Portrait of James Dewey Watson, 1969. Photographed here is American molecular biologist and co-discoverer of DNA's structure James Watson (1928-2025). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives.