Abel Tasman is credited with being the first European to discover Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand.
He was a Dutch seafarer and explorer who joined the Dutch East India Company in 1634. He was ordered to explore the south-east waters in order to find a new sea trade route to Chile in South America. During this voyage, in 1642, he discovered a previously unknown island on his voyage past the "Great South Land", or "New Holland", as the Dutch called Australia. He named it "Antony Van Diemen's Land" in honour of the High Magistrate, or Governor-General of Batavia. He also became the first known European to discover the islands of New Zealand but, following an altercation with the local Maori people, chose not to land there, believing it to be part of the same continent as Van Diemen's Land.
The Australian island state of Tasmania is named after Tasman. He was the one who first sailed past it, originally naming it Van Diemen's Land. Within Tasmania, there is also the Tasman Peninsula, Tasman Bridge and the Tasman Highway. The Tasman sea lies between Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, places named after Tasman include Tasman Glacier, Tasman Lake, Tasman River, Mt Tasman, Tasman Bay and the Abel Tasman National Park.
Tasman Higgins's birth name is Tasman George Higgins.
Charles Tasman's birth name is Charles Tasman Parkinson.
1642
No. Abel Tasman was Dutch.
Claesjen Tasman
where was abel tasman born and when
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Tasman School was created in 1913.
Marc Tasman was born in 1971.
Tasman Booby was created in 1988.
Tasman Starling was created in 1836.