Feature | Humanity ’ s Long History of Tattoos
AGAINST THE
BACKDROP of imperial wars and the colonialism of the 1700s , explorer , navigator , and cartographer Captain James Cook made a name for himself voyaging through the Pacific Ocean to Australia .
Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay , Australia , 1770s , Image : Wikipedia
Whilst traversing the unknown , Cook ’ s explorations led him to the lands of the indigenous people of the Polynesian Islands , where he encountered the permanent markings the Polynesian and Samoan people wore proudly on their skin .
These marks were made by tapping sharpened tools made from bones or boar husks into the skin , forcing natural pigment derived from lama nuts under the epidermis . They earned the name “ tatu ” or “ tatau ” for the tapping sound the tools made in the process . It was Cook , interpreting from the Polynesian language , who coined the English term “ tattoo ”.
Captain Cook ’ s exploits tell us that the practice of tattooing predates its English term . In fact , prior to Cook ’ s voyages , the British and other pilgrims to the Holy Land were already tattooing the Jerusalem Cross onto themselves to commemorate their journey , and even that is not the earliest instance of tattooing .
Sydney Parkinson ’ s classic illustration of a tattooed Maori from Cook ’ s first voyage , Image : Wikipedia
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