What was Australia's origanal name?

Answer 1

Originally, Australia was inhabited by Aborigines who had a grasp on their locality but did not concern themselves with the nature of the whole continent. They are not known to have had a name for the continent.

Once European exploration in the area commenced, Australia was initially known as Terra Australis Incognita, meaning "Unknown Southern land".

From the 1600s, the Dutch traders named the western half of the continent New Holland. But for many years, the continent was still referred to as Terra Australis Incognita on Dutch and Portuguese maps.

When Captain James Cook charted the eastern coast in 1770, he claimed it for England under the name ofNew South Wales. In between this time, some map-makers of the 1700s called it the Great South Land.

Matthew Flinders was the one who first proposed the name "Terra Australis", which became "Australia", the name adopted in 1824.

As a sovereign state, Australia has always been known as Australia.

Answer 2

Terra australis incognita, Great South Land of the Holy Spirit, New Holland.

The Australian continent was variously known as Locac or Lucach, India meridional (South India), Java le Grande and Terra Australis by Mercator (and others) during the late 1500s.

James Cook named the eastern half of the continent New South Wales in 1770, and this was the name by which it was known when British settlement began in 1788, even though it did not refer to the entire continent. To all intents and purposes, if a convict was sentenced to transportation to "New South Wales", that is how he or she regarded the entire continent.

Answer 3

In ancient times, there was no concept of Australia. However, the Australian continent was once part of the southern land mass known to scientists today as Gondwana.

In the much more recent past, the eastern half of the continent was known as New South Wales, a name now restricted to just one state, whilst the western half was called New Holland. Prior to this, the continent, being unknown and unexplored, was called Terra Australis Incognita - the unknown southern land.

Answer 4

New Holland