Abel Janszoon Tasman
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The Unknown Southern Continent
There was absolutely no proof of this southern continent, only a firm belief that it was there. On maps it was called Terra Australis Incognita.
Image Source - A Dutch map published in 1618 CE
Terra Australis Incognita
One of the most famous world maps that includes Terra Australis is the map drawn by Orontius Finaeus in 1531 CE
Well, it turns out that the Europeans were half right. There is no large continent in the south that is of equal size to the northern hemisphere land masses.
But there are 2 large continents in the southern Hemisphere. (Well if you want to get really technical - there are 3 - but we are not including South America in this lens). One is now identified as the Antarctica (which was not discovered until 1820) and the other is Australia (originally first discovered by the Dutch in 1606 and named New Holland).
Abel Janszoon Tasman
In 1642 the Council of the Indies commissioned Tasman and several other sailors to explore and map this Terra Australis (unknown southern continent). Some parts of New Holland had already been seen, but had not been mapped or settled.
Tasman and his crew ended up circling the entire continent of Australia without really touching it. The closest they got was of course the island of Tasmania. They did however discover several other Pacific islands groups. New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. Tasman returned to Batavia in 1643.
In 1644 they were sent out again to map this land named New Holland. This time, Tasman mapped the western and northern coasts of Australia - roughly from Cape York in the east all the way along to Broome on the western coast. and then returned to Batavia.
In 1648 Tasman was sent north to Manila in an attempt to intercept the Spanish gold ships. He failed to find them. In 1649 Tasman was found guilty of hanging a man without a trial, suspended from his positon as commander and order to compensate the sailors family. In 1651 Tasman was reinstated to his position and became a landowner in Batavia. He died in 1659.
Image source - Postage Stamps Message Boards
Stamps issued - April 10th, 1985 - 33 cents
Bicentenary of Australian Settlement (1988).
Navigators. Abel Tasman.
Scroll down to the date of January 18, 2009 at the top right of each post.
Tasmania - or Van Diemens Land
Abel Tasman sailed past the southern point of Tasmania in November 1642. He named the place - Van Diemens Land after the Governor of Dutch East Indies (what is now Indonesia). Tasman did not make landfall. That did not happen until over 100 years later in 1770 when a French expedition led by Marion du Fresne landed on the island.
The first settlement was begun by the British in 1803 at the mouth of the Derwent River, near what is now Hobart. The earlyu settlers were convucts sent from Sydney to clear the land and set up the farms. Harsh prisons were started up at Port Arthur in the south and another prison began at Macquarie Harbour on the west coast.
Hobart was proclaimed a city in 1842 and Launceston was proclaimed a city in 1888. Hobart is the capital of Tasmania. The one animal most closely associated with Tasmania, is the Tasmanian Devil, a marsupial with very sharp teeth.
Murderers Bay, New Zealand
New Zealand, which was discovered by Tasman in 1642, was named after the Dutch province of Zeeland.
Tasman's ship crossed (what is now) the Tasman sea and discovered (what is now) the South Island. It was assumed that this might be part of the southern continent, so Tasman sailed north and discovered a lovely large bay in which he stopped. to meet with the natives.
Unfortunately the Maori people (at that time) were a warrior people and there was a miscommunication fo some kind. Some Maoris and some of Tasmans men were killed. Tasman sailed away calling it Murderers Bay. It is now called GOLDEN BAY and is one of the top tourist spots in all of New Zealand.
Image source - Murderers Bay, NZ
The Voyages of Abel Tasman
Tasman started out from Batavia in the Dutch East Indies in 1642 and journeyed down through the Indian ocean, stopping off at Mauritius to refuel and rest for several weeks.
On this first voyage, the first unknown land that Tasman discovered was the southern end of Tasmania. After Tasmania, he went on to discover the islands groups of New Zealand and Fiji. .
Tasman continued his voyage and sailed quite close to those islands that Alvaro Mendana found and lost. But Tasman did not see them so they stayed lost.
Image Source - Wikipedia Commons
Gidday mate!!
Where the Bloody Hell are you?
There are only 2 mildly rude words - and they are both in the last line of the ad.
This advertisment was BANNED in the UK due to those 2 words.
DVD's about Australia
Tasman Resources
- Terra Australis Incognita
- Wikipedia
- Proof of Terra Australis
- Terra Australis Incognita on Medieval Maps
- Terra Australis Incognita
- Citizendia
- Abel Tasman
- Wikipedia
- Unknown Southern Land to New Holland
- National Library of Australia
- Abel Tasman's Voyages
- Australian Explorers
- Tasmania
- Wikipedia
- Tour Tasmania
- Interactive tour of Tassie
- Tasmania Attractions
- Tasmania Tourism
- Tasmania History Timeline
- Wikipedia
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