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Early life Tasman was born in Lutjegast, the Netherlands, in 1603. We first hear of him at the end of 1631 when he, a widower living at Amsterdam, married Jannetjie Tjaers. He was shortly afterwards in the service of the Dutch East India Company and by 1634 was mate of a ship trading from Batavia (now Jakarta) to the Moluccas. In July of that year he was appointed master of a small ship, the Mocha. He visited Holland in 1637 and returned to Batavia in October 1638, bringing his wife with him. First Pacific voyage In 1639 Tasman was sent as second in command of an exploring expedition in the north Pacific. His fleet included the ships Heemskerk and Zeehan. After many hardships Formosa (now Taiwan) was reached in November, 40 out of the crew of 90 having died. Other voyages followed, to Japan in 1640 and in 1641 and to Palembang in the south of Sumatra in 1642, where Tasman succeeded in making a friendly trading treaty with the Sultan. In August 1642 Tasman was sent in command of an expedition for the discovery of the "Unknown Southland", which was believed to be in the south Pacific but which had never been seen by European eyes. Strange as it may seem to us today, Tasman sailed first to Mauritius. The reason for this was that his ships were sailing ships and the best route from one place to another was not always the direct route; of more importance was the flow of the wind. Tasman had some knowledge of the prevailing winds and so he chose Mauritius as a turning point and from there a course was set towards what was presumed to be the southern coast of Australia. (At least part of the western shore of the continent was already known to the Dutch but the shape of the southern coast was anybody's guess). Tasmania On 24 November 1642 he sighted the west coast of Tasmania near Macquarie Harbour. Tasman named the land Anthoonij van Diemenslandt (Van Diemen's Land) after Anthony Van Diemen the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Proceeding south Tasman skirted the southern end of Tasmania and turned north-east until he was off Cape Frederick Hendrick on the Forestier Peninsula. An attempt at landing was made but the sea was too rough; however, the carpenter swam through the surf and planting a flag took formal possession of the land on 3 December 1642. New Zealand Tasman had intended to proceed in a northerly direction but as the wind was unfavourable he steered east. On the 13th of December they sighted land on the north-west coast of South Island, New Zealand. After some exploration he sailed further east, and nine days later was the first known European to sight New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt on the assumption that it was connected to an island (Staten Island, Argentina) at the south of the tip of South America. Proceeding north and then east one of his boats was attacked by Māoris in war canoes, and four of his men were killed. It has recently been suggested that some of Tasman's sailors briefly landed here on 18 December 1642. Tasman named it Murderers' Bay (now known as Golden Bay) and sailed north, but mistook Cook Strait for a bight (naming it Zeehaen's Bight). Two names that he bestowed on New Zealand landmarks still endure: Cape Maria van Diemen and Three Kings Islands (Cabo Pieter Boreels is now known as Cape Egmont). The return voyage
Second Pacific voyage With three ships on his second voyage (''Limmen'', ''Zeemeeuw'' and the tender ''Braek'') 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 making observations on the land and its people. 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 visited by Europeans - mainland Australia, however, was visited, but usually only by accident. Later life
Tasmans legacy As with many explorers, Tasman's name has been honoured in many places. These include: Reference | ||||||||||||||
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