Abel Tasman discoveries in geography. Abel Tasman short biography and interesting facts. Tasman's discoveries on the way to a ghostly goal

Province of Groningen - October 10, 1659, Batavia (now Jakarta) - Dutch navigator, explorer and merchant. He received worldwide recognition for the sea campaigns he led in -1644. He was the first known European explorer to reach the shores of New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. The data collected during his expeditions helped to prove the fact that Australia is a separate continent. The name of the navigator is the island of Tasmania and the Tasman Sea.

Biography

Abel Janszoon Tasman was born in 1603 in the village of Lütjegast near Groningen (now the municipality of Grotegast in the province of Groningen) in the Netherlands. The exact date of his birth is unknown. The first documentary mention of him refers to 1631, when he, already widowed by that time, remarried. As follows from the surviving church record, his wife was illiterate and came from a poor family, which indirectly confirms the validity of the assumptions of the researchers of his biography about his low social status at that time.

Presumably at the same time, Abel Tasman entered the service of the Dutch East India Company as a simple sailor, but already in the records of 1634 he appears as the skipper of one of the company's ships. The main occupation of the company's sailors at that time was the service of transportation of spices and spices, which were an expensive and valuable commodity for the European market.

Around 1651, Abel Tasman retired and moved on to trade in Batavia.

Immortalized memory

In memory of Abel Janszon Tasman, the following are named:

• He discovered the island of Tasmania off the coast of Australia
• Sea
• Basin in the South Pacific Ocean between the coasts of Australia and New Zealand
• A protrusion of the mainland in northwestern Australia
• Bridge 1.3 km long in the city of Hobart - administrative center tasmania
• Expressway (Tasman Highway (or A3)) on the island of Tasmania
• National park in New Zealand
• Mountain peak in New Zealand
• Lake in New Zealand
• Bay in New Zealand
• Administrative region in New Zealand

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Notes

Literature

• Nevsky V.V. Tasman discoveries. - M .: Geografgiz, 1961. - (Remarkable geographers and travelers).
• Vnukov N. Great travelers. Biographical Dictionary. - St. Petersburg. : "Azbuka", 2000. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-267-00048-5.
• Jules Verne . History of great travels. - M .: "Terra", 1993.
• Light Ya M History of the discovery and exploration of Australia and Oceania. - M .: Thought, 1966. - 400 p. - (Discovery of the Earth). - 12,000 copies.

Links

• . Around the world . Retrieved March 14, 2015.

Excerpt characterizing Tasman, Abel Janszon

Marya Dmitrievna, finding the weeping Sonya in the corridor, forced her to confess everything. Intercepting Natasha's note and reading it, Marya Dmitrievna went up to Natasha with the note in her hand.
“You bastard, shameless,” she told her. - I don't want to hear anything! - Pushing away Natasha, who was looking at her with surprised, but dry eyes, she locked her with a key and ordered the janitor to let through the gate those people who would come that evening, but not let them out, and ordered the footman to bring these people to her, sat down in the living room, waiting kidnappers.
When Gavrilo came to report to Marya Dmitrievna that the people who had come had run away, she got up with a frown, and with her hands folded back, paced the rooms for a long time, pondering what she should do. At 12 o'clock in the morning, feeling the key in her pocket, she went to Natasha's room. Sonya, sobbing, sat in the corridor.
- Marya Dmitrievna, let me go to her for God's sake! - she said. Marya Dmitrievna, without answering her, unlocked the door and went in. “Disgusting, nasty ... In my house ... A scoundrel, a girl ... Only I feel sorry for my father!” thought Marya Dmitrievna, trying to appease her anger. “No matter how hard it is, I’ll order everyone to be silent and hide it from the count.” Marya Dmitrievna entered the room with resolute steps. Natasha lay on the couch, covering her head with her hands, and did not move. She lay in the very position in which Marya Dmitrievna had left her.
- Good, very good! said Marya Dmitrievna. - In my house, make dates for lovers! There is nothing to pretend. You listen when I talk to you. Marya Dmitrievna touched her hand. - You listen when I speak. You disgraced yourself like the last girl. I would have done something to you, but I feel sorry for your father. I will hide. - Natasha did not change her position, but only her whole body began to rise from the soundless, convulsive sobs that choked her. Marya Dmitrievna looked round at Sonya and sat down on the sofa beside Natasha.
- It is his happiness that he left me; Yes, I will find him,” she said in her rough voice; Do you hear what I am saying? She put her big hand under Natasha's face and turned her towards her. Both Marya Dmitrievna and Sonya were surprised to see Natasha's face. Her eyes were bright and dry, her lips pursed, her cheeks drooping.
“Leave ... those ... that I ... I ... die ...” she said, with an evil effort she tore herself away from Marya Dmitrievna and lay down in her former position.
"Natalia!..." said Marya Dmitrievna. - I wish you well. You lie down, well, lie down like that, I won't touch you, and listen... I won't say how guilty you are. You yourself know. Well, now your father will arrive tomorrow, what will I tell him? A?
Again Natasha's body shook with sobs.
- Well, he will know, well, your brother, the groom!
“I don’t have a fiancé, I refused,” Natasha shouted.
“It doesn’t matter,” continued Marya Dmitrievna. - Well, they will find out, what will they leave like that? After all, he, your father, I know him, after all, if he challenges him to a duel, will it be good? A?
“Ah, leave me, why did you interfere with everything!” For what? For what? who asked you? shouted Natasha, sitting up on the sofa and looking angrily at Marya Dmitrievna.
- What did you want? cried Marya Dmitrievna again, excitedly, “why were you locked up or what?” Well, who prevented him from going to the house? Why take you away like a gypsy?... Well, if he had taken you away, what do you think, they wouldn't have found him? Your father, or brother, or fiancé. And he's a scoundrel, a scoundrel, that's what!
“He is better than all of you,” Natasha cried, rising. “If you hadn’t interfered… Oh, my God, what is it, what is it!” Sonya why? Go away! ... - And she sobbed with such despair with which people mourn only such grief, of which they feel themselves the cause. Marya Dmitrievna began to speak again; but Natasha screamed: “Go away, go away, you all hate me, despise me. - And again threw herself on the sofa.
Marya Dmitrievna went on admonishing Natasha for some more time and suggesting to her that all this must be hidden from the count, that no one would know anything if only Natasha took it upon herself to forget everything and not show to anyone that something had happened. Natasha didn't answer. She did not sob anymore, but chills and trembling became with her. Marya Dmitrievna put a pillow for her, covered her with two blankets, and herself brought her a lime blossom, but Natasha did not answer her. “Well, let her sleep,” said Marya Dmitrievna, leaving the room, thinking that she was sleeping. But Natasha did not sleep, and with fixed open eyes from her pale face looked straight ahead of her. All that night Natasha did not sleep, and did not cry, and did not speak to Sonya, who got up several times and approached her.
The next day, for breakfast, as Count Ilya Andreich had promised, he arrived from Moscow Region. He was very cheerful: business with the bidder was going well, and nothing now delayed him now in Moscow and in separation from the countess, whom he missed. Marya Dmitrievna met him and announced to him that Natasha had become very unwell yesterday, that they had sent for a doctor, but that she was better now. Natasha did not leave her room that morning. With pursed, chapped lips and dry, fixed eyes, she sat at the window and peered uneasily at those passing along the street and hurriedly looked back at those who entered the room. She was obviously waiting for news of him, waiting for him to come himself or write to her.

Saturday, December 15, 2012 7:42 pm + to quote pad

December 13, 1642 - 370 years ago - Dutch navigator Abel Tasman set foot in New Zealand for the first time.

Abel Janszon Tasman (Dutch. Abel Janszoon Tasman, 1603, Lutjegast, Groningen province - October 1659, Batavia (now Jakarta) - Dutch navigator, explorer and merchant. Received world recognition for the sea voyages he led in 1642-1644. The first among famous European explorers reached the shores of New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji.The data collected during his expeditions helped to prove the fact that Australia is a separate continent.

Cape Jacobs Gerrets (1594-1650) Portrait of Abel Tasman, his wife and daughter. (1637)

Abel Janszon Tasman was born in 1603 in the village of Lütjegast near Groningen (now the municipality of Grotegast in the province of Groningen) in the Netherlands in a poor family, independently learned to read and write, and, like many of his countrymen, connected his fate with the sea. The exact date of his birth is unknown. The first documentary mention of him refers to 1631, when he, already widowed by that time, remarried. As follows from the surviving church record, his wife was illiterate and came from a poor family, which indirectly confirmed the validity of the assumptions of the researchers of his biography about his low social status at that time.

Presumably at the same time, Abel Tasman entered the service of the Dutch East India Company as a simple sailor, but already in the records of 1634 he appears as the skipper of one of the company's ships. The main occupation of the company's sailors at that time was the service of transportation of spices and spices, which were an expensive and valuable commodity for the European market.

In 1636, Tasman returned to Holland, but two years later he was back in Java. In 1638, Tasman, commanding a ship, sailed to India. In 1639, Van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch Indies, organized an expedition to northern part Pacific Ocean to explore seafaring areas in the region of Japan and trade opportunities with the local population.

Portrait of Antonio van Diemen (1593-1645).(1636-1675, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) Anthony van Diemen(Dutch. Antonio van Diemen, Antonie van Diemen; 1593 (1593), Culemborg - April 19, 1645, Batavia) - the ninth Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

It was headed by an experienced navigator Mattis Quast. Tasman was appointed skipper on the second ship.

Quast and Tasman had to find mysterious islands, allegedly discovered by the Spaniards east of Japan; these islands on some Spanish maps bore the tempting names "Rico de oro" and "Rico de I" ("rich in gold" and "rich in silver").

The expedition did not justify Van Diemen's hopes, but she explored the Sean waters and reached Kuril Islands. During this voyage, Tasman proved himself to be a brilliant helmsman and an excellent commander. Scurvy killed almost the entire crew, but he managed to navigate the ship from the coast of Japan to Java, withstanding severe typhoon attacks along the way. After 6 months at sea, the Tasman ship, having lost almost 40 out of 90 crew members, returned to the Dutch fort Zeelandia on the island of Formosa (Taiwan). During this voyage, Bonin Island was discovered by him.

In 1640, Tasman again led one of the 11 Dutch ships headed for the shores of Japan. This time he spent Japanese port Hirado is about three months old.

Van Diemen showed considerable interest in Zeidlandt, and he was not disappointed by the failures of the expedition of Gerrit Pohl. In 1641, he decided to send a new expedition to this land and appointed Tasman as its commander. Tasman had to find out if Seidlandt was part of southern mainland, to determine how far it extends to the south, and to know the paths leading from it to the east, into the still unknown seas of the western part of the Pacific Ocean.

Karte des Südmeers vor der Reise Tasmans, von Hendrik Hondius um 1650

Tasman supplied detailed instruction, which summarized the results of all voyages made in the waters of Seidlandt and the Western Pacific Ocean. This instruction has survived, and Tasman's daily records have survived, which allow us to restore the entire route of the expedition. The company gave him two ships: a small warship "Heemskerk" and a fast flute (cargo ship) "Sehain". One hundred people took part in the expedition.

The ships left Batavia on August 14, 1642 and arrived on the island of Mauritius on September 5. On October 8, they left the island and headed south, and then south-southeast. On November 6, they reached 49 ° 4 "south latitude, but could not move further south due to a storm. A member of the expedition Vischer proposed sailing to 150 ° east longitude, adhering to 44 ° south latitude, and then along 44 ° south latitude go east to 160° east longitude.

Under the southern coast of Australia, Tasman thus passed 8-10 ° south of the route Neats, leaving the Australian mainland far to the north. He was heading east at a distance of 400-600 miles from south coast Australia and at 44 ° 15 "south latitude and 147 ° 3" east longitude noted in his diary: "... all the time the excitement comes from the southwest, and although we saw floating algae every day, it can be assumed that there is no mainland..." This was an absolutely correct conclusion: the nearest land south of the Tasman route - Antarctica - lies south of the Antarctic Circle.

On November 24, 1642, a very high bank was noticed. This was the southwest coast of Tasmania, an island that Tasman considered part of the Zuidlandt and named Van Diemen's Land. It is not easy to establish which part of the coast the Dutch sailors saw that day, because the maps of Vischer and another member of the Gilsemans expedition differ significantly from each other. The Tasmanian geographer J. Walker believes that it was a mountainous coast north of Macquarie Bay - Harbor.

On December 2, sailors landed on the shores of Van Diemen's Land. “On our boat,” writes Tasman, “there were four musketeers and six rowers, and each had a lance and a weapon at his belt ... Then the sailors brought various greens (they saw it in abundance); some varieties were similar to those that grow on the cape Good Hope... They rowed for four miles to a high cape, where all kinds of greenery grew on flat areas, not planted by man, but existing from God, and there were fruit trees in abundance, and in wide valleys there are many streams, to which, however, , difficult to reach, so you can only fill a flask with water.

The sailors heard some sounds, something like the playing of a horn or the blows of a small gong, and this noise was heard nearby. But they didn't see anyone. They noticed two trees, 2-2 1/2 fathoms thick and 60-65 feet high, and the trunks were cut with sharp stones and the bark was torn off here and there, and this was done in order to get to the birds' nests. The distance between the notches is five feet, therefore, it can be assumed that the people here are very tall. We saw traces of some animals, similar to the prints of the claws of a tiger; (sailors) brought the excrement of a four-legged beast (so they believed) and some fine resin that seeped out of these trees and had the aroma of humilak ... There were many herons and wild geese off the coast of the cape ... "

Leaving the anchorage, the ships moved further north and on December 4 passed the island, which was named the island of Mary in honor of Van Diemen's daughter. Passing by the islands of Schaugen and the Frey-sine peninsula (Tasman decided that this was an island), the ships reached 4-34 "south latitude on December 5. The coast turned to the north-west, and the ships could not move in this direction due to headwinds. Therefore, it was decided was to leave coastal waters and go east.

Tasman on his map connected the coast of Van Diemen's Land with Neates' Land, discovered in southern Australia in 1627. Thus, Tasmania became a protrusion of the Australian mainland, and in this form it was shown on all maps until the beginning of the 19th century.

During the period from 5 to 13 December 1642, the expedition crossed the sea separating Tasmania and Australia from New Zealand. At noon on December 13, Tasman and his companions discovered New Zealand land - a cape at the northwestern tip South Island New Zealand, later named Cape Ferwell by Cook. Rounding this cape, Tasman entered the strait separating the South and North Islands (modern Cook Strait). On the southern coast of this strait in a deep bay on December 18, the ships dropped anchor.

Here a meeting was held with the Maori, who went out to the ships in sharp canoes. At first everything was fine. Stately, painted with patterns, people with yellowish skin behaved peacefully (they were all armed with clubs and spears). The canoes came very close to the ships, and the sailors entered into conversation with the islanders. Tasman had recorded phrases in the languages ​​of New Guinea, but these dialects were as incomprehensible to New Zealanders as Dutch. Suddenly the world was broken. The Maori captured a boat sent from the Hemskerk to the Zehain. In this boat were the boatswain and six sailors. The boatswain and two sailors managed to swim to the Hemskerk, but four Maori sailors were killed; their bodies and the boat they took with them. Tasman places all the blame for this skirmish on the locals. He named the bay where this event took place, Assassin's Cove.

Maori canoes and Abel Tasman's ships in Killer's Bay (now Golden Bay).
Isaack Gilsemans (died about 1645) Description English: "A view of the Murderers" Bay, as you are at anchor here in 15 fathom", a drawing made by Abel Tasman"s artist on the occasion of a skirmish between the Dutch explorers and Māori people at what is now called Golden Bay, New Zealand. This is the first European impression of Māori people. 18 December 1642 ("View of the Bay of Murderers, a drawing made by the artist Abel Tasman on the occasion of a skirmish between Dutch sailors and Maori).

Leaving the bay, he headed east, but soon contrary east winds forced him to lie adrift. On December 24, a council of commanders was held. Tasman believed that a passage could be found to the east, but his companions believed that the ships were not in the strait, but in a wide bay that cut deep into the newly discovered land. It was decided to head to the northern shore of this "bay". Since Tasman did not find the passage that divides New Zealand in two, he decided that it was a single landmass and named it the Land of the States (Statenlandt), believing that it was part of the Land of the States of Schouten and Lehmer. Passing to the northern shore of Cook Strait, Tasman then turned west, bypassed the southwestern tip north island and proceeded along its western coast to the north.

On January 4, 1643, he discovered the extreme northwestern tip of New Zealand, which he named Cape Maria Van Diemen. Headwinds prevented him from rounding the cape and surveying the north coast of the North Island. He mapped only the western coast of the Land of the States. Only one hundred and twenty-seven years later, the true outline of this land was established and proved that it is not part of the southern mainland, but a double island, which is only slightly larger in area than Great Britain.

Opening on January 5th big Island ok Three Magi (Three Kings on modern maps) near the New Zealand coast, Tasman headed northeast.

On January 19, the ships entered the waters of the Tonga archipelago. Tasman was more fortunate here than Schouten and Lemaire.

Those only "touched" the northernmost islands of this archipelago, and Tasman discovered the main Tongan islands - Tongataba, Eua and Namuku (he called them the islands of Amsterdam, Middelburg and Rotterdam, respectively). This was a very important discovery: until now, the Spaniards and the Dutch in western Polynesia met only small islands lying on the periphery of this vast area.

Inhabitants of New Ireland. Drawing by Abel Tasman

Inhabitants of the island of Rotterdam. Drawing by Abel Tasman

Island of Rotterdam. Drawing by Abel Tasman

Islands of the Three Kings. Drawing by Abel Tasman

Tasman stayed on the islands of Tonga until February 1, 1643. The islanders received him warmly and cordially.

Woodcut Gilseman from the travel diary of Abel Tasman (1642-1643) depicting clothes, boats and settlements the people of Tonga.
Tongatapu, drawing by Isaack Gilsemans

Woodcut by Gilsemans (?) from ship diary by Abel Tasman, showing both ships in the bay(A), the inhabitants of Tongatapu with presents (B and E), showing their cano (C), how they fish (D), and where the king lives (F).
Houtsnede in scheepsdagboek Abel Tasman, met de bewoners van Tongatapu die met geschenken aankomen

From the islands of Tonga, Tasman headed northwest. On February 6, he discovered the Fiji Islands, but fogs and bad weather prevented exploration of this vast archipelago. Continuing northwest, the Tasman passed far to the east of the Banks and Santa Cruz Islands. Solomon islands remained to the west of his route; On March 22, he reached a large atoll, which he named Ontong Java.

Further, Tasman, along the route of Schouten and Lemaire, headed along the northern coasts of New Ireland (which he considered part of New Guinea) and New Guinea to the Moluccas and Java, and on June 14, 1643, arrived in Batavia.

The well-known historian and geographer J. Baker rightly called this voyage of Tasman a brilliant failure. And indeed, if in terms of navigation the route outlined by Vischer was exceptionally successful, then in a purely geographical sense it could not justify itself. The Australian ring had too large a radius: inside this ring were Australia with Tasmania and New Guinea.

Tasman only touched New Zealand and, without examining it, mistook it for the western ledge of the Land of the States of Schouten and Lemaire. However, passing from New Zealand through the islands of Tonga and Fiji to New Guinea, he separated the Australian-New Guinean land from the mythical southern mainland. Since the South Land of the Holy Spirit of Kyros also happened to be west of the route laid out by Tasman in the Pacific Ocean, the cartographers had to separate it from this mainland and attach it to Zeidlandt. This very real land that appeared on the maps with the New Guinean "pendant", Van Diemen's Land and the Southern Land of the Holy Spirit, was called New Holland (on maps of the 17th and first half of the 18th century, its entire eastern half was shown as a solid "white spot").

The Tasman Expedition of 1642-1643 was one of the most outstanding overseas ventures of the 17th century. Tasman discovered Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), New Zealand and the islands of Tonga and Fiji. He "separated" the New Dutch land from the southern mainland, discovered a new sea ​​route from indian ocean to Quiet in the band of stable westerly winds of the fortieth latitudes; he rightly assumed that the ocean washing Australia from the south captures a vast expanse in the forties and fiftieth latitudes. Contemporaries did not use these important discoveries of Tasman, but they were duly appreciated by James Cook; He owes much of the success of his first two voyages to Tasman.

Immediately after the return of Tasman from the voyage, Van Diemen decided to send him again to the shores of Zeidlandt. The fact is that neither Janszon, nor Carstens, nor Gerrit Paul managed to penetrate the Gulf of Carpentaria. Therefore, it was not clear whether this vast water basin represented a bay or, in its southernmost part, it turned into a strait leading to Neates Land. Tasman was charged with surveying the coast of New Guinea south of 17° south latitude and ascertaining whether it connected with the land known as Seidlandt.

On modern maps, only the tip of the "tail" of New Guinea reaches 10 ° south latitude. However, Van Diemen, like all people of that time, believed that the eastern coast of Carpentaria, surveyed in 1623 by Carstens up to 17 ° south latitude, is part of New Guinea.

At the beginning of 1644, three small ships were equipped in Batavia and a team of one hundred and ten people was selected. Frans Vischer was appointed chief helmsman of the expedition. Records of the participants in this voyage have not been preserved, but the route of the expedition is shown on the "Bonaparte map", which is stored in the Mitchell Library in Sydney (it is called so because it came to Australia from the personal archives of one of Napoleon's relatives). The map is based on Tasman's data and contains his own handwritten notes.

The Abel Tasman map 1644, also known as the Bonaparte Tasman map. This map is part of the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, Australia.

The results of this voyage exceeded all expectations. Tasman passed along the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula, then along the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and discovered a number of small islands near it. He explored the western shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria, then proceeded along north coast Arnhemland Peninsula, crossed the Dundas Strait between the Coburg Peninsula and Melville Island and entered the bay, which he named after Van Diemen. Without going deep into this bay, Tasman again went out to the open sea, rounded the islands of Melville and Bathurst from the north (he took these islands for part of the mainland) and went southwest along the still unexplored northwestern coast of Australia. At times, because of reefs and small islands, he had to keep at a considerable distance from the coast, but he found that there were no wide breaks anywhere in it, and went along it up to places south of 21 ° south latitude, which had already been surveyed in 20 years of the 17th century. From the Northwest Cape, Tasman headed for Java and arrived in Batavia in early August 1644.

Tasman's First and Second Expeditions.
Designations on the map:
________ first expedition 1642-1643;
_ _ _ _ second expedition in 1644.
- coasts open to Tasman and known to him;
- coasts open to Tasman, but unknown to him;
— islands open to Tasman;
coasts or islands discovered by Tasman

Thus, Tasman erased from the map large "blank spots" in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the northwestern coast of Australia. After this voyage, the western part of the mainland took on the contours that we see on modern maps. north coast Australia on the map of Tasman received only a general outline, and only painstaking research carried out almost two centuries later made it possible to clarify its data and put on a hag a number of bays, capes and islands in this part of the mainland. But it was Tasman who discovered that the coastline stretches continuously from the Northwest Cape to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

However, the results of both Tasman expeditions disappointed the East India Company. Tasman did not find any gold or spices - he explored the deserted shores of desert lands. In fifty years the company had seized so many rich lands in the Asian East that it was now most concerned with how to retain these distant possessions. The routes laid by Tasman did not promise her any benefits, because she already held in her tenacious hands the sea route leading to the East Indies past the Cape of Good Hope. And in order to prevent competitors from seizing these new routes, the company considered it good to close them and at the same time stop further searches in Seidlandt. “It is desirable,” they wrote to Batavia from Amsterdam, “that this land should remain unknown and unexplored, so as not to draw the attention of foreigners to the ways, using which they can damage the interests of the company ...”

In April 1645, Van Diemen died, and the new trend in the overseas policy of the company finally triumphed.
Until almost 100 years later, the British navigator James Cook traveled, Europeans never began to explore New Zealand, and visits to Australia were isolated and most often caused by shipwrecks.

Tasman, in essence, remained out of work. He fell into disgrace, took part in small expeditions. His nautical skills, however, did not go unnoticed. In 1645, he was awarded the rank of commander, i.e., he became the head of a detachment of ships, and his salary was raised.

In addition, Tasman was appointed a member of the Council of Justice of the city of Batavia. Since he was recognized as a connoisseur of the sea, he was instructed to review the ship's logs of all the ships of the company and give an opinion on their navigation.

For several more years, Tasman led various expeditions to Malay Archipelago. In 1647 he was sent as a representative to the king of Siam, and in 1648 he led a detachment of 8 ships that opposed the ships of the Spanish fleet. In 1651 he was reinstated, but left the company.

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch navigator of the 17th century who described the nature and inhabitants of New Zealand, explored the coastline of Australia, discovered the island of Tasmania and the archipelagos of Tonga and Fiji.

Abel Tasman was born in 1603 in the village of Lutjegast in the province of Groningen, not far from the city of the same name in the Netherlands.

No documents telling about the birthday or about Tasman's parents have survived. The first documentary evidence of his life is a record of his second marriage in 1631 after his first wife died. The same document says that Tasman was literate, but his wife did not know the letter, therefore, she was of an humble family, like the man who chose her as his wife.

The following documentary evidence reports that in 1634 Abel Tasman was hired as a skipper on a merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company (De nederlandse Oost-indische compagnie), which explored the prospects for opening trade in the Malaysian islands. Probably, immediately after his marriage, he went to serve in the Navy and rose from a simple sailor to a skipper position.

The East India Company was engaged in the trade in spices and spices, which were valued in Europe in the 17th century worth their weight in gold. Further fate Abel Tasmana was associated with Batavia (Batavia) - the capital of the colony of the Netherlands on the territory of the island of Java, then called the Netherlands Indies (Nederlands India). Now the former Batavia is Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

Documents from 1638 report that by this time Tasman had become the captain of a merchant ship.

First expeditions

In 1639 to Japanese islands equipped with a research expedition, consisting of only two sailboats. One was captained by Tasman, the other by Matthias Kwast. The task of the expedition is to find out the prospects for conducting trade with the inhabitants of the island territories to the east of Japan. This campaign is considered unsuccessful, as it lasted six months, during which time half of the sailors died from scurvy, and the ships with difficulty, through numerous storms and typhoons, returned to their native colonies on the island of Formosa ( modern name- Taiwan), where they found shelter and rest in a fortified port city Zealand.

The contribution to science is that Tasman and Kvast reached the Kuril Islands and plotted them on their maps. Around the same time, the Kuriles were described and marked on their maps by Japanese explorers.

In 1640, Tasman participated in an expedition of 11 ships that pursued the same goals. The expedition was successful, the sailors reached the port of Hirado in Japan, spent almost 3 months there and returned to Batavia.

What discovered

In 1642, the East India Company organizes a trip of 2 ships to the southeast Pacific Ocean, where, according to geographers of that time, the Unknown Southern Land (Zuidland, Zuidland), full of gold and other treasures, is located.

The idea of ​​equipping the campaign belonged to the Governor-General of the Dutch colonies in Indonesian territory Anthony Van Diemen. He set several tasks for the participants of the enterprise:

• Find out what the South Land (Australia) is - a whole mainland or coast of an unknown mainland in the South Pacific Ocean;
• Is there a land connection between the Australian territories and the island of New Guinea;
• Lay a short route connecting the island of Java with the European mainland through the strait at Cape Horn, opened in 1616 by Dutch merchants Jacob Le Maire and Willem cornelisz Schouten.

To lead the expedition, Van Diemen chose Abel Tasman, who became famous as an excellent expert on sea routes. Tasman is the captain on one of the sailboats of this campaign.

It was this expedition that brought Tasman worldwide fame:

• On November 24, 1642, a large island was discovered near Australia, which the sailors called Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania).
• December 13, 1642, sailing near the coastline of Van Diemen's Land, Tasman discovered South Island, which is part of New Zealand.
• When the discoverers stopped near open island and the sailors went down to land, the local inhabitants, the Maoris, sailed to meet them. Tasman and his friends tried to speak with the natives in the language of the inhabitants of New Guinea, but the Maori did not know this language. During this meeting, the Maori attacked one of the boats, killed several people and fled in a canoe, and took the Dutch boat and the bodies of the dead with them. After this terrible event, the bay in which the first meeting with the natives took place was called the Bay of Killers (the modern name is Golden Bay).

The further journey led the travelers on January 21, 1643 to the islands of Tonga, where they found island territories unknown to the compilers of their nautical charts. There was a stop, the sailors got on the road fresh water and provisions, were friendly met by the aboriginal tribes and went to the Fiji Islands, then rounded New Guinea and only on June 15, 1643 returned to Batavia.

Contribution to geography

The result of this campaign was the discovery of Tasmania and the study of its southern coast, as well as the archipelagos of Tonga and Fiji.

Impressions of New Zealand are detailed in the diaries of the captain and his crew: lush vegetation, an abundance of familiar and unfamiliar wildlife, streams with clean water. Tasman described the appearance, weapons of the Maori, recorded their speech, made sketches depicting the natives and his squadron. On the islands of Tonga, Tasman also made sketches, capturing the appearance of villages, clothes, weapons, and boats of the inhabitants of the archipelago.

However on their maps, the sailors connected the island of Tasmania and Australia, thinking that this was an indivisible territory. Also, the discoverers did not see the strait separating the two parts of New Zealand. These objects retained this appearance on maps until the 19th century and had a common name New Holland(New Holland).

In the same year, 1643, Tasman set out on Van Diemen's next assignment at the head of a detachment of 3 ships and explores the island of New Guinea from the west and Australia from the north. The islands and the exact contours of Australia in the Gulf of Carpentaria were marked with particular detail on the maps. All research results were mapped. It has been proven that Australia is an independent continent.

This campaign gave mankind great geographical discoveries, but the East India Company recognized the expedition as a failure, as new opportunities for developing trade relations with local residents was not found. No gold or other treasures were found, the Australian land seemed barren, and the indigenous peoples were often bloodthirsty and unfriendly.

Recent expeditions

In 1644, voyages to the coast of Australia resumed, but were accompanied by failures: ships were lost in rough seas, landfalls in Australia became rare and short-lived, and landings on New Zealand were not made at all.

After the voyage of 1644, Tasman received the rank of commander, he was included in the Legal Council.

Holding these positions, Tasman in 1647 performed diplomatic functions at the royal court in Siam.

In 1648, the commander commanded a squadron of 8 ships that attacked the squadron of Spain. However, interest in exploring new lands faded after Van Diemen's death. In addition, the authorities were afraid that the results of the research would be known in other countries and attract competing companies to the trade routes laid by the Dutch. Therefore, since 1651, the famous discoverer has been engaged exclusively in commercial affairs, he does not go to sea.

What was named after the traveler

The merits of Tasman to science are noted in the names of many geographical and administrative objects:

• Island;
• Tasman Sea;
• East Australian Trench about 6 kilometers deep between the Australian and New Zealand coasts;
• Bridge in the city of Hobart in Tasmania;
• Mountain peak, lake, bay, national park in New Zealand, etc.

The image of a brave Dutchman was captured in 1637 by the portrait painter Cape Jacobs Gerrets on the painting “Portrait of Abel Tasman with his wife and daughter”.

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What is interesting about Abel Tasman and what contribution did he make to geography famous navigator and traveler, you will learn from this article.

What did Abel Tasman discover? Contribution to geography

Abel Tasman made all his main discoveries during sea expeditions, of which there were several during his life.

The East India Company in 1642 organizes a sea voyage on 2 ships in southeastern part Pacific Ocean. According to the assumptions of geographers, the Unknown Land was located here, rich in gold and other treasures. The expedition was supervised by the Governor-General of the Dutch colony in Indonesian territory - Anthony Van Diemen. As the head of this important mission, he chose Abel Tasman, who by that time had become famous as an expert on sea routes. This trip brought the navigator worldwide fame.

What did Abel Tasman do?

On November 24, 1642, they discovered an island near Australia, which the sailors called Van Diemen's Land (modern Tasmania). And on December 13, 1642, sailing near its coastline, the traveler discovered another island - South. And he was part of New Zealand.

Further travel led the expedition to the islands of Tonga. It happened on January 21, 1643. Here, island territories were found that were not previously known to the compilers of sea charts of that time. On the way back, the sailors visited the Fiji Islands, rounded New Guinea, and in June 1643 returned home.

Abel Tasman major contribution to geography

As a result of the campaign described above, new island- Tasmania. And Abel Tasman made a great contribution to the exploration of its southern coast, including the archipelagos of Fiji and Tonga. Their impressions of what they saw were recorded in a diary. The team was struck by the lush vegetation, familiar and unfamiliar animals, the presence a large number pure water. Also, the expedition commander described the appearance of the Maori and weapons, recorded their speech, sketched the natives, their clothes, villages.

True, on their maps they united Australia and the island of Tasmania into one whole, without seeing the strait that separates these two parts of New Zealand. In this form, they remained until the 19th century and bore the common name - New Holland.

Abel Tasman's discoveries, which continued after 1643, are that he studied western part islands of New Guinea and northern Australia. The navigator accurately marked on the map the exact contours of Australia and the island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. They proved that Australia is a separate, independent continent.

After the death of Governor Van Diemen, interest in exploring new lands disappeared. The authorities were afraid that the research would draw the attention of other countries to the sea routes laid by the Dutch. From 1651 famous discoverer Abel Tasman no longer goes to sea and is exclusively engaged in commercial affairs with the rank of commander.

We hope that from this article you have learned what contribution Abel Tasman made to geography.

Abel Janszon Tasman - the great Dutch navigator, was born in 1603 in the Dutch village of Lutgegast. There is no information about Tasman's parents, about his childhood and youth, as well as nothing is known about where he received his education. When Abel Tasman was 28 years old, he began serving in the Dutch East India Trading Company, most likely as an ordinary sailor, but a few years later in 1634 he became a skipper on one of the company's ships.

The ship on which Abel Tasman served was mainly engaged in the transportation of spices and spices. It is also known that in the period from 1634 to 1638, Tasman carried out hydrographic work in the Malay Archipelago, and near Moluccas he was on guard duty. In 1638, he was appointed captain of the ship Angel, he signed a 10-year contract with the company and went to India.

In 1639, Abel Tasman went on an expedition to the shores of Japan. The purpose of this expedition was to search for the islands of Rico de Oro and Rico de Plata, lost in the ocean, on which, according to legend, there were huge reserves of precious metals. The expedition was organized by Anton van Diemen, Governor General of the Dutch East India, he singled out two ships and appointed Tasman as the captain of one of them, Graft.

The expedition started on June 2, 1639 from Batavia, making an intermediate stop in the Philippines, where work was carried out to refine the map. Philippine Islands. Moving further northeast, they managed to discover islands from the Bonin archipelago. At this, luck turned away from Tasman, an epidemic broke out on the ships, and it was decided to return to Batavia. On the way back, Tasman compiled a charter for the coasts of the East China Sea.

The arrival in Batavia took place on February 19, 1640, by which time Graft's crew consisted of only seven people. Over the next two years, van Diemen repeatedly sent Tasman to Japan, China and some other countries. South-East Asia with various assignments. One of these trips almost became the last for the navigator: heading to Taiwan, the Tasman flotilla fell into a severe typhoon, all ships except the flagship sank.

This ship drifted across the ocean for a long time with broken masts, a rudder and water in the hold, it was saved by a chance meeting with another Dutch ship. The purpose of the new expedition, organized by van Diemen in 1642, was the expansion of influence. The navigators were tasked with finding sea routes that would allow Dutch ships to avoid encounters with Portuguese warships in the still unexplored southern part of the Indian Ocean.

In addition, they needed to clarify the outlines of the southern land discovered back in 1606 by Willem Janszon. It was also assumed that, moving east towards Chile, they would be able to find the lost Solomon Islands. The expedition set off from Batavia on August 14, 1642, headed by Abel Tasman, who by that time was rightfully considered the best Dutch captain in the East Indies. This expedition involved 110 people who set off on the two ships Hemsmerk and Seehan.

The condition of the ships left much to be desired, the decks of which were completely rotten, so Tasman did not dare to go across the entire ocean to Chile and decided to explore only southern land and the areas adjacent to it. Moving in a southeasterly direction from the island of Mauritius, on November 24, 1642, Abel Tasman discovered new land, naming it in honor of the governor van Diemen's Land.

The voyage was continued, and after some time the expedition discovered another land, which later became known as New Zealand. However, Tasman did not explore this island, deciding that it was the previously discovered Land of the States. After that, the ships set off on their way back, to the north they discovered the Fiji Islands, the Tonga archipelago, the island of New Ireland, the island of New Britain, etc.

But the Solomon Islands, due to poor visibility, passing very close to them, the expedition did not find. The ships, which had been sailing for ten months, returned to Batavia on June 15, 1643. This expedition had no material benefit, just as a safe sea route to Chile was not found, which was very dissatisfied with the leadership of the East India Company. However, van Diemen in the same year sent another expedition under the command of Tasman to explore New Guinea.

During this journey he made detailed map the northern coast of Australia and proved that this land is the mainland. In May 1645, Tasman was awarded the rank of commander for his services as a navigator, at the same time Tasman entered the council of justice of Batavia. Even despite the high post, Abel Tasman continued sea expeditions until 1653, until he retired. The navigator died in 1659, at that time he was 56 years old.