Person

Tasman, Abel Janszoon (1603? - 1659)

Born
1603?
Lutjegast, Netherlands
Died
10 October 1659
Batavia, Indonesia
Occupation
Explorer and Mariner

Summary

Abel Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer and merchant with the Dutch East India Company. Tasman was one of the first Europeans to explore the south-east coast of Australia.

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Details

While officially the first European to circumnavigate Australia, he misinterpreted some of the geography he charted, he didn't realise Tasmania was an Island and mistook the Cook Strait for a bay. He returned to Batavia (now known as Indonesia) and the man who sent him on the expedition, Governor-General Anthony van Diemen, in 1643. His 1642 - 1643 expedition had taken him from Batavia (Djakarta, Indonesia) to Mauritius, Van Diemen's land (Tasmania), Staten Land (New Zealand) and back to Batavia via the Friendship Islands (including those islands now known as Tonga and the Solomon Islands) and New Guinea.

His second major expedition (1644) was part of a Dutch plan to establish a settlement in the Tonga Islands allowing the Dutch East India Company to raid the Chilean coast. Between his return to Batavia in 1644 and death in 1659 Tasman went on a expedition to Thailand and the Philippines before being dismissed from his post for misconduct (1649), reinstated (1651), retiring (1653) and becoming a independent merchant in Batavia.

Chronology

1634
Career event - Capitan, Expedition to Seram on a ship named the 'Mocha', Dutch East India Company
1639
Career event - Participant, Exploration of Bonin Island under Commander Mathjjis Hendrickszoon Quast
1639 - 1641
Career position - Mercantile Commander, Dutch East India Company
14 August 1642 - 18 May 1643
Career event - Leader, Expedition to explore Terra Australis Incognita
1644
Career event - Leader, Expedition to explore New Guinea
1647 - c. 1653
Career position - Commander, Trading Fleet to Thailand, Dutch East India Company
1653
Career event - Retired

Published resources

Books

  • Pinkerton, John, Early Australian Voyages: Pelsart, Tasman, Dampier (London, England: Cassell & Co, 1886). Details

Book Sections

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details

Annette Alafaci

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 14 January 2020

EOAS ID: biogs/P000821b.htm

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