Australian History: Abel Tasman
Tasman was sent from the Dutch East Indies. He sailed south and then east. Although Tasman did not find the continent of Australia, he did come across the island of Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen’s Lad in honour of Anthony Van Diemen, the Dutch governor general of Batavia. Tasman claimed the island for Holland and then sailed further east to discover both islands of New Zealand before returning to the East Indies.
In 1644 Van Diemen sent Tasman on another voyage. This time he was to find whether New Guinea was joined to the south land. He sailed along the north and northwestern coast of Australia and charted the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the northern half of Western Australia. Tasman’s voyage proved that New Holland, as he called it, was not connected to New Guinea. But he was not impressed with the coastline he charted. It seemed to be a poor dry land of little benefit to traders.