#16- Abel Tasman

16 Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman (1603-1659) was a Dutch explorer who made trading and exploratory voyages in East and Southeast Asia. in 1642, he went south from Batavia (Jakarta) to find the hypothetical southern continent and a possible route to Chile. Instead pf finding the southern continent, Tasman found an island which he named Van Diemen's Land after the man who sent him on this voyage. The land was later renamed Tasmania. Tasman then kept going east and found New Zealand, which Tasman thought was the Southern Continent. Tasman also found the Tonga and Fiji islands. He also had a 2nd voyage in 1644 during which he sailed to the Gulf of Carpentaria and along the northern and western coasts of Australia. Abel Tasman has made his name great for having an island named after him and for discovering what would become the country of New Zealand.

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