Australian dictionary of biography abel tasman nz

Abel Janszoon Tasman

TASMAN, ABEL JANSZOON (? 1603-59) was born at Luytegast, in the province of Groningen, in the Dutch Netherlands. In 1633 he shipped to the East Indies before the mast, and in the following year was skipper of a yacht on the general service of the Dutch East India Company.

He returned to the Netherlands in 1636, but in 1638 sailed again for the East.

Australian dictionary of biography abel tasman nz

In 1639, with Matthew Quast, he was sent by the Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Antony van Diemen, to search for reputed islands of gold and silver east of Japan. He visited the Philippines and Bonin island, sailed at large in the north Pacific and returned to Batavia.

In 1642 he entered upon his first expedition in search of the "great south land: Terra Australis incognita." This was planned by Frans Jacobzoon Visscher, the ablest East Indian pilot of the time and a man of great vision, and strongly backed by van Diemen, who wished also to complete the discovery of New Holland (Australia).

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