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Abel Janszoon Tasman ( 1603 - 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, born in Lutjegast, a village in the province of Groningen, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644, in the service of the VOC ( Dutch East India Company). His was the first European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand. He also mapped substantial portions of Australia.
His task was to investigate the country then known as New Holland, now known as Australia, of which the Dutch had already discovered the west coast, and to determine whether it was part of Terra AustralisTerra Australis (more completely Terra Australis Incognita, "(the) unknown southern land") was an imaginary continent, appearing on European maps from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. It was first introduced by Ptolemy, a Greek cartographer from t. It was hoped by the VOC that he would thus locate a new unexploited continent for tradeTrade centers on the exchange of goods and/or services. Exchanges may take place between two parties (bilateral trade) or amongst more than two parties (multilateral trade). In its original form trade necessarily used barter and the exchange of goods and. To do so, on his first voyage (1642 to 1643Events January 21 Abel Tasman discovers Tonga May 14 Four year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. May 19 Battle of Rocroi: French victory over the Spanish at Rocroi, France. July 13 English Civil War: Battle of) he sailed from JakartaThis page is about the capital city of Indonesia. For an entry on The Apache Jakarta project, see Jakarta Project''. Jakarta known as Djakarta or DKI Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia, located on the island of Java. It has an area of 650 km² and a (then known as Batavia) with two small ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen, first to MauritiusRepublic of Mauritius Republique de Maurice ( In Detail) National motto: Stella Clavisque Maris Indici( Latin: "Star and Key of the Indian Ocean" Official languages De facto: English, French and Creole Capital Port Louis President Sir Anerood Jugnauth Pri, and from there sailed east at a higher latitude than the Dutch had done before. This way, he completely missed Australia, but did finally find land at the island of Tasmania on November 24November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 37 days remaining. Events 380 Theodosius I makes his adventus or formal entry, into Constantinople. 642 Theodore succeeds John IV as Pope. 1639 Jeremiah Ho. He named it Van Diemen's Land, but later BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly colonists would rename it after its discoverer. After some investigation, he sailed further east, and discovered New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt on the theory that it was connected to a piece of land south of the tip of South America. He sailed north along its west coast. At the northern end of the South Island he anchored the ships in a bay, where in his only encounter with the Maori four of his sailors were killed. He named it Murderers' Bay and sailed north, but missed Cook Strait separating the north and south islands, believing New Zealand to be a single land, and part of Terra Australis. En route back to Batavia, he came across the Tonga archipelago on January 21, 1643.
On his second voyage, in 1644, he followed the south coast of New Guinea eastward. He missed the Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia, and continued his voyage along the Australian coast. He mapped the north coast of Australia.
From the point of view of the VOC, Tasman's explorations were a disappointment: He had neither found a promising area for trade nor a useful new shipping route. For over a century (until the era of James Cook), Tasmania and New Zealand were not again visited by Europeans. Australia was visited, but usually only by accident.
As with many explorers, Tasman's name has been honoured in many places. These include:
