Australian explorers and their discoveries briefly. History of Australian exploration. British colonization of Australia

And after a short time they managed to establish their trading posts there. Simultaneously with the strengthening of their positions in the Moluccas, the Portuguese undertook voyages in search of the mythical "Islands of Gold". One of them ended in the city with the first visit to the northwestern coast of Australia. The laurels of the discoverer are given to Cristovan de Mendonça (port. Cristóvão de Mendonça). No details of the voyage have been preserved, but in a city in western Australia, on the shores of Roebuck Bay (18 ° S), small bronze cannons with a Portuguese crown were found, cast no later than the beginning of the 16th century.

The Portuguese put the sections of the coast they discovered on their secret maps, which have partially come down to us. On the French map of the Dauphine (near the city), compiled, apparently, according to Portuguese sources, south of Java shows a part of the coast called Great Java, as part Great Australian land, which, according to the then scientists, surrounded the entire South Pole the globe. Among the clearly French inscriptions there are also Portuguese ones.

The same Great Java is depicted on a series of maps compiled in - years, definitely based on Portuguese materials, by cartographers from the city of Dieppe. Obviously, Portuguese ships before the city sometimes approached the northern and northeastern shores of Australia. Probably, though they were multiple, but still random voyages.

In December 1605, a Spanish expedition moved west across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines from the western coast of South America from Callao (Peru), hoping to find the mythical southern mainland. The commander of one of the three ships was Luis Vaes Torres. After the discovery of the New Hebrides, Torres led an expedition of the remaining two ships in June. At this point, Torres was close enough to the eastern coast of the "green" continent that he would have reached it if he had headed southwest. However, he moved west with a deviation to the north. Sailors crossed the Coral Sea for the first time and approached the southern coast of New Guinea. In his report, Torres reports that he walked along the southern coast of New Guinea for 300 leagues (about 1800 km), then “due to shallows and strong currents, he moved away from the coast and turned to the southwest. There were large islands, and in the south a number of them could be seen. What Torres saw to the south was undoubtedly the northern coast of Australia with the adjacent islands. After passing another 180 leagues (about 1000 km), the expedition turned north, reached New Guinea, and then through the Moluccas and the Philippines, proving that New Guinea is a large island. Sailors thus became the first Europeans to pass through the dotted coral reefs dangerous strait separating Australia from New Guinea. The Spanish government kept this great discovery, like many others, a closely guarded secret. Only 150 years later, during the Seven Years' War, the British in the city temporarily captured Manila, and the Spanish government archives fell into their hands. A copy of the Torres report fell into the hands of the English cartographer Alexander Dalrymple, who in the city proposed calling the passage between New Guinea and the Cape York Peninsula Torres Strait.

Dutch discoveries

The unfortunate outcome of the expeditions of Kennedy and Leichhardt suspended the exploration of the country for many years. Only in Gregory went with two ships to the north coast, west of Arngemsland, to explore the Victoria River flowing into the sea there. Following the course of this river, Gregory turned to the southwest, but returned, being stopped by an almost impenetrable desert. Shortly thereafter, he again undertook a journey to the west, in order to find, if possible, traces of Leichhardt, and returned to Adelaide without reaching his goal. At the same time, it was decided to make the nearest study of the area of ​​​​salt lakes, which lies to the north of the Spencer Gulf. Harris, Miller, Dullon, Warburton, Swinden Campbell, and many others rendered great services in this investigation. John McDwell Stuart undertook three trips to the salt pans and planned an expedition across the entire mainland, in the direction from south to north. In he went to the middle of the mainland and hoisted the English banner on the mountain of the Stewar Bluff ridge, which has a height of 1000 m. In June, due to the hostile attitude of the natives, he was forced to abandon his enterprise. On January 1, however, he renewed his attempt to pass the mainland from south to north and penetrated 1.5 ° further inland than the first time; but in July he was supposed to return without reaching his intended goal. The third attempt was made by him in November of the same year and was crowned with success: on July 24, 1862, Stuart hoisted the English banner on the northern coast of Arngemsland and returned almost dying to his compatriots.

In order to cross Central Australia from south to north, on August 20, 1860, an expedition set off from Adelaide under the command of Robert O'Hara Burke, accompanied by astronomer William Wills, consisting of about 30 people, with 25 camels, 25 horses, etc. The travelers were divided into two groups, of which the second was supposed to insure the main one. Burke, Wills, King and Gray in February 1861 reached the swampy shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria, but could not reach the coast of the sea. In April, Gray died, the rest reached the camp of the second party on April 21, but found it abandoned. It turned out that the support group, after waiting much longer than the agreed period, left the camp on April 20. There was no longer any strength to catch up with the departed. Burke and Wills died from exhaustion. Only King escaped, who in September 1861 was found in the camp of the natives, expelled from Melbourne by an expedition; he was as thin as a skeleton. Two expeditions sent out later to find Burke managed to successfully cross the mainland. At the initiative of the Melbourne botanist Miller, the ladies' committee in the colony of Victoria in 1865 gathered cash on a new journey, the immediate goal of which was to clarify the fate of Leichhardt's missing expedition. Duncan Max Intir, who saw traces of the expedition in question in the upper reaches of the Flinder River, became the head of a new enterprise and set off in July; but such a terrible drought prevailed in the interior of the country that half of the total number of participants had to be sent back to the colony. Max Intir soon died of a malignant fever, and the same fate befell his companion Sloman. After them, W. Barnett, who took over command of the expedition, returned to Sydney in 1867 without collecting any new information about Leichhardt. An expedition from the colony of Western Australia was sent for the same search, which managed to learn from the natives in one locality (at 81 ° S and 122 ° E) that a few years before they had been killed in 13 days of travel from there to the north, on the dry bottom of a lake, two whites with three horses that were with them. This story was repeated in another area. Therefore, in April, an expedition to the said lake was equipped, which, although it did not reach its goal, nevertheless penetrated further into the interior of the country than all previous expeditions heading from the west. As early as 1824, the British government made various attempts to occupy the northern coast of Australia. For 4.5 years it maintained a military post (Fort Dundas) on the west coast of Melville Island, for 2 years another post (Fort Wellington) on the Cobourg Peninsula, and from to a garrison in Port Essington. But since the hope of gaining from commercial relations between Australia and East Asia failed, these attempts were abandoned. It was only after Stuart had passed from the colony of South Australia across the mainland to the northern shore of Arngemsland that the Northern Territory was placed under the control of this colony, the latter taking up the issue of settling the country.

Expedition McKinley

In April 1864, a marine expedition of geometers headed north from Port Adelaide under the command of Colonel Finnis, who was soon replaced by McKinley. The latter in 1866 began to explore Arnhem Land, but the rainy season and floods did not allow him to carry out his intention, and he returned to Adelaide. Then, in February 1867, the South Austrian government sent Captain Cadell to the north bank, who discovered the significant river Blyth (Blyth), and the chief surveyor Goyder, who in the vicinity of Port Darwin made a survey on an area of ​​2700 square meters. km. Colonization progressed more successfully in northern Queensland, especially towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, as cattle breeding needed new pastures, which were taken up by private enterprise. At the beginning of the forties, in all of present-day Queensland, only the neighborhood of Moreton Bay was inhabited, and then very poorly. Since then, settlements have expanded as far north as the Gulf of Carpentaria. When subsequently, in the city, a telegraphic communication was established between Australia and Asia and through it with all other countries of the world, the study of the interior of the Australian mainland made tremendous progress. Already during the laying of the telegraph wire, small settlements began to appear on its way, from which expeditions were then undertaken to explore the country. So, in 1872, Ernst Gilles, setting off from the Chambers-Pillar telegraph station, followed the course of the Finke River to its source, where he discovered an extremely fertile country Glen of Palms. From the telegraph station Alice Springs in 1873 the geometer Gosse went and discovered under 25°21′00″ S sh. 131°14′00″ E d. reached the Murchison watershed, from where the barren desert begins, which he explored at a distance of 900 km.

Achievements Gilles

In 1875-78 Gilles undertook three new journeys into the barren steppes of inland Australia. On behalf of the government of the colony of South Australia, the course of the Herbert River was investigated, and trigonometric measurements were made, and, in addition, an expedition was undertaken to explore completely unknown areas lying on the seashore. This expedition opened big river Moubray, which falls in three waterfalls, having up to 150 m in height. Sergeson in November 1877 discovered excellent arable land near the banks of the Victoria River. John Forrest returned in 1879 from a journey he had taken to the completely unknown north-eastern part of the colony of Western Australia, during which he discovered beautiful alluvial plains on the banks of the Fitzroy River. His second journey led to the discovery in Western Australia of 20 million and in South Australia about 5 million acres of good grazing and arable land, of which a significant part was suitable for cultivation by Queensland. In 1884, Gardman and Stockdale traveled around the coast of Cambridge Bay (in the north of the mainland).

In 1885, the geologist R. von Lendenfeld studied central part Australian Alps and determined the height of Mount Townsend (2241 m) as the highest peak of the chain. In 1886, Lindsay crossed the country from the great telegraph circuit (crossing the mainland in a meridional direction) to the MacArthur River, and Giles and Lowry to Kimberley County.

The geologist Tenison Wood explored the mineral wealth of the northern territory, Lindsay, Brown and East - in the same respect the central parts of Australia. Most researchers studied the country in terms of its suitability for agriculture and cattle breeding. In 1886-90. Norwegian Lumholtz studied the life of the natives of Queensland. In 1888-89. naturalist Gaddon lived on the islands of the Torres Strait.

In 1890, a number of researchers studied the McDonel mountain range (in the center of the mainland) and the southern part of the Kimberley outskirts. In 1894-98, a scientific expedition led by Winnecke explored central Australia.

Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation

Omsk State Pedagogical University

Department of Physical Geography

Geographers - explorers of Australia.

Essay

Performed: student

Faculty of Geography

group 16 Zakharova Evgenia

Checked: teacher

Departments of Physical Geography

Balashenko Valentina Ivanovna

Omsk 2003

Plan:

1. Introduction

2. Pedro Fernandez de Quiros

3. Willem Janszoon

4. Abel Tasman

5. James Cook

6. Flinders Matthew

7. Sturt Charles

8. Stuart John McDual

9. Leichhardt Ludwig

10 Burke Robert O'Hara

11. Sir John Forrest

12. Conclusion

13. References

Introduction

At the beginning of the 17th century, in the Southern Hemisphere, the ghost of the greatest continent, Australia of the Holy Spirit, began to take on more and more clear outlines. Often real geographical achievements were not committed suddenly and not by one specific person. So the discovery of Australia did not happen immediately, and many sailors took part in this enterprise.

Long before the discovery of Australia by James Cook, it was dreamed and dreamed about. The fact is that scientists argued that the fourth continent is necessary in order to maintain the balance of the Earth, but the people hoped to find gold, pearls, spices or some other unprecedented riches there. So they searched for Australia for a long time.
And there at that time the aborigines lived quietly, looked at the world optimistically and believed that man and nature are one, and their totems (animals, plants or natural phenomena with which they identified themselves) will protect from any troubles and misfortunes. However, in 1770, James Cook solemnly sailed on his ship along the east coast of "New Earth", named it New South Wales and declared it the property of the British crown. Interestingly, in fact, a certain Dutchman Willem Janszon sailed to the shores of Australia a little earlier, however, he did not appreciate the merits of the lands found, therefore, apparently, he was not appreciated as a discoverer. On the other hand, it must be said that the British crown assessed these lands in a rather peculiar way - they decided to organize prison settlements there. And they organized it!
By the beginning of the 40s of the last century, the construction of the continent had achieved noticeable success. Life in Australia had become quite bearable, and sending convicts there lost all meaning.
Since 1840, a stream of free settlers has poured in there. Australians today are very proud of their convict ancestors: this is prestigious. They look at the descendants of decent great-grandfathers somewhat condescendingly.

Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1565-1614)

The belief in the existence of another continent prompted the Spaniard Mendanya to travel from America to the South Pacific, where he discovered some of the Marshall and Solomon Islands and Ellis Island.
The young captain and helmsman Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1565-1614), who also believed in the existence of the southern mainland, participated in his second expedition.
Quiros was only thirty years old when he went to Peru and received a place as captain and chief helmsman of Mendanha. The expedition consisted of three hundred and seventy-eight people stationed on four ships. Unfortunately, Mendanya took his wife and a crowd of relatives with him.
Kyros, who at first hesitated whether to take part in the expedition, soon became convinced that his doubts were well founded. Senora Mendanya, an arrogant and power-hungry woman, handled all the affairs, and the head of the military detachment turned out to be a rude and tactless person.
But Kyros decided not to pay attention to anything and continued to faithfully fulfill his duties.
On July 26, 1595, sailors saw an island at a distance of approximately 4200 kilometers from Lima, which they called Magdalena. When about four hundred natives came in canoes to the ships and brought coconuts and fresh water for exchange, the Spanish soldiers turned this friendly visit into a massacre that ended in a stampede of the natives. Such cases were repeated more than once in the future. In 1605, 3 ships under the command of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros left Callao in search of the southern mainland. The expedition discovered the land, which they took for the southern mainland and called Australia Espirito Santo. Subsequently, it turned out that it was an island from the New Hebrides group. In the middle of 1606, during a storm, two ships lost sight of the Kyros ship and continued sailing under the command of Luis Vaez de Torres. The ships passed along the southern coast of New Guinea, separating it from the southern mainland, but information about this was buried in the secret archives of Spain.

Janszoon Willem . Dutch navigator of the 17th century. Discovered Australia in 1606 West Coast Cape York Peninsula). In 1605, the Dutch navigator Willem Janszon on the Deifken ship "discovered a vast landmass in the southern Indian Ocean called Zeidlandt (Southern Land), which began to be considered part of the Southern Continent. At the beginning of 1606, Janszon turned southeast, crossing the Arafura Sea and approached the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula in the Gulf of Carpentaria.Of course, these names were given later, and then the Dutch made the first documented landing on the coast of unfamiliar land.Then "Dreyfken" sailed south along the flat desert coast, reached the cape on June 6, 1606 Kerver. In Albatros Bay, the crew first encountered the natives. There was a skirmish in which several people were killed on both sides. Continuing the voyage, Janszon traced and mapped approximately 350 kilometers

coastline of the Cape York Peninsula to its extreme northern tip and called this part of the peninsula New Guinea, believing that it is a continuation of this island.

Abel Tasman(1603-1659). In 1642, the governor-general of the Dutch Indies, Van Diemen, decided to establish whether Australia was part of the southern mainland and whether New Guinea connected with it, and also to find a new road from Java to Europe. Van Diemen found a young captain, Abel Tasman, who, having gone through many trials, won the fame of an excellent connoisseur of the sea. Van Diemen gave him detailed instructions where to go and how to act.
Abel Tasman was born in 1603 in the vicinity of Groningen in a poor family, he independently mastered the letter and, like many of his countrymen, connected his fate with the sea. In 1633, he appeared in Batavia and, on a small ship of the East India Company, went around many of the islands of the Malay Archipelago. In 1636, Tasman returned to Holland, but two years later he was back in Java. Here, in 1639, Van Diemen organized an expedition to the North Pacific. It was headed by an experienced sailor Mattis Quast. The skipper on the second ship was appointed Tasman.
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 it explored the Sean waters and reached the Kuril Islands. During this voyage, Tasman proved himself to be a brilliant helmsman and an excellent “mandir. Scurvy killed almost the entire crew, but he managed to lead the ship from the coast of Japan to Java, withstanding the fierce attacks of the typhoon along the way.
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 whether Zeidlandt was part of the Southern Continent, how far it extended to the south, and to find out the paths leading from it to the east, into the still unknown seas of the western part of the Pacific Ocean.
Tasman supplied detailed instructions, 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. Member of the expedition

Vischer proposed sailing to 150° east longitude, adhering to 44° south latitude, and then sailing east along 44° south latitude to 160° east longitude.
Under the southern coast of Australia, Tasman thus passed 8-10 ° south of the Neates route, leaving the Australian mainland far to the north. He followed east at a distance of 400-600 miles from the southern coast of 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 everyday we saw floating algae, we can assume that in the south 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. It was southwest coast Tasmania, an island that Tasman considered part of the Zeidlandt and called 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,” Tasman writes, “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 nata, that grow on the Cape of 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 real from God, and there were fruit trees in abundance, and in wide there are many streams in the valleys, which, however, are difficult to reach, so that only a flask can be filled 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 the Earth

Neats, 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 on the northwestern tip of the South Island of New Zealand, later named Cape Ferwell by Cook. Rounding this cape, Tasman went into the strait separating the South and North Islands (the present-day 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 Seehain. 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. 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 coast of Cook Strait, Tasman then turned west, bypassed the southwestern tip of the North Island and followed 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. On the map, he plotted 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 it was proved that it is not part of the southern mainland, but a double island, which in area is only a few more UK.
Having discovered on January 5 a small island of the Three Wise Men (Three Kings on modern maps) near the New Zealand coast, Tasman headed to the northeast.
On January 19, the ships entered the waters of the Tonga archipelago. Tasman

more fortunate here than Schouten and Lemer. They 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.
Tasman stayed on the islands of Tonga until February 1, 1643. The islanders received him warmly and cordially.
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. Because the South Land The Holy Spirit of Kyros also turned out 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 Holland land from the southern mainland, opened a new sea route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific 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 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 swimming, Van Diemen decided again

send him to the shores of Seidlandt. 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 the duty of surveying the coast of New Guinea south of 17° south latitude and ascertaining whether the ots connected with the land known as Seidlandt.
On modern maps, only the tip of the "tail" of New Guinea do. goes up to 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 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 coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, then proceeded along the northern coast of the 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.
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. The northern coast of 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 plot a number of bays, capes and islands in this part of the mainland on a hag. 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's expeditions disappointed the East India Company. Tasman did not find any gold or spices - he explored the deserted shores of desert lands. For fifty years, the company has captured

so many rich lands in the Asian East that now it was most concerned with how to keep 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.
Tasman, in essence, remained out of work. He fell out of favor, took part in small expeditions, then in 1651 he was reinstated, but left the service in the company and, at his own peril and risk, conducted trading operations on the islands of the Malay Archipelago for several years. He died in 1659.

James Cook ( November 27, 1728, Marton, Yorkshire, England - February 14, 1779, Hawaii Island ), English navigator who circumnavigated the Earth three times, the first Antarctic navigator, the discoverer of the east coast of Australia, New Zealand; captain of the highest rank (corresponds to the Russian captain-commander; 1775), member of the Royal Society (1776). Childhood, youth and the beginning of a career as a navigator: Born in the family of a day laborer, from the age of 7 he began to work with his father, at 13 he began to attend school, where he learned to read and write, at 17 he was hired as an apprentice clerk to a merchant in a fishing village and for the first time saw sea. In 1746 he entered a ship's cabin boy, carrying coal, then became an assistant to the captain; went to Holland, Norway and the Baltic ports, making time for self-education. In June 1755 he enlisted in the British navy as a sailor, and two years later he was sent to Canada as a navigator. In 1762-67, already in command of a ship, he surveyed the shores of the island of Newfoundland, explored its interior, compiled sailing directions for the northern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Honduras. In 1768 he was promoted to lieutenant. First circumnavigation of the world: In 1768-71, Cook led an English expedition on the barque Endeavre, sent to the Pacific Ocean by the British Admiralty to identify the southern mainland and annex new lands to british empire. After the discovery of four islands from the Society's group, he traveled more than 2.5 thousand km along the "empty" ocean and on October 8, 1769 reached an unknown land, with high, snow-covered mountains. It was New Zealand. For more than 3 months, Cook sailed along its shores and made sure that these were two large islands separated by a strait, which later received his name. In the summer, Cook approached for the first time east coast Australia, which he declared a British possession (New South Wales), was the first to explore and map about 4 thousand km of its eastern coast and almost all (2300 km) of the Great barrier reef. Through the Torres Strait, Cook passed to the island of Java and,

rounding the Cape of Good Hope, July 13, 1771 returned home, having lost 31 people from tropical fever. Thanks to the diet he developed, none of the team had scurvy. Cook's first circumnavigation lasted a little over 3 years; he was awarded the rank of captain of the 1st rank.

Antarctic circumnavigation: The second expedition in 1772-75 on two ships - the sloop "Resolution" and the barge "Adventure" - was organized to search for the southern mainland and explore the islands of New Zealand and others. In January 1773, for the first time in the history of navigation, he crossed the Antarctic Circle (40 ° east longitude) and went beyond 66 ° south latitude. In the summer of 1773, twice more unsuccessfully, Cook tried to search for the southern mainland, reaching 71 ° 10 "south latitude. Despite the conviction that there was land near the pole, he abandoned subsequent attempts, considering it impossible due to the accumulation of ice to continue sailing south. In the Pacific Ocean, he discovered (1774) the islands of New Caledonia, Norfolk and a number of atolls, and in the South Arctic - South Georgia and "Sandwich Land" (South Sandwich Islands). While sailing in Antarctic waters, he buried the legend of the giant inhabited Southern Continent (which was refuted by Bellingshausen and Lazarev). Cook was the first to meet and describe flat icebergs, which he called "ice islands". The third voyage and the death of Cook: Cook had outstanding abilities and "made himself" thanks to his great industriousness, unbending will and purposefulness. "Strive and achieve" is the motto of his life; he went to the intended goal courageously, not afraid of difficulties and failures, without losing his presence of mind. Cook was married and had 6 children who died in early childhood. More than 20 geographical objects, including three bays, two groups of islands and two straits.

Flinders, Matthew(Flinders, Matthew) (1774-1814), English traveler. Born March 16, 1774 in Donington (Lincolnshire). In 1795 he went to Australia and, with the support of Governor Hunter, surveyed and mapped the east and south coasts of New South Wales. In 1798, together with George Bass, he sailed around Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Having visited England, Flinders returned to Australia with the intention of carefully exploring the southern coast of this continent. Having set off from Cape Levin (Luin) in December 1801, he slowly moved eastward. In April 1802 he met the French expedition of Nicolas Bodin in the bay, which later became known as Encounter ("Meeting"). Upon arrival in Sydney, Flinders joined another expedition, during which he discovered the only safe passage through the Great Barrier Reef (Flinders Pass) and surveyed the Gulf of Carpentaria. A leak was discovered in the hold of the ship, and Flinders had to go to Timor Island, from where he sailed along the western and southern coasts of Australia and arrived in Sydney in June 1803. On the way to England in August 1803, Flinders' ship was wrecked. Having procured another ship, he got to

Mauritius in Indian Ocean, where he was detained by the French authorities, because at that time France was at war with England. He was able to return to his homeland only in 1810. Flinders died in London on July 19, 1814.

Sturt, Charles (Carles Sturt) (1795 - 1869) - traveler and explorer of Australia. Charles Sturt arrived in Australia in 1827 in charge of a group of migrant convicts. At that time, he did not even have the idea that he would become a traveler and explorer. Yet, a few years later, he undertook his first expedition in search of the mythological Australian inland sea. Following the course of the Macquarie River, he eventually discovered the Darling River, which he named after the governor of the colony. However, the expedition had to be interrupted, because due to the drought, the water of the Darling River became salty. In 1829, Sturt explored the system of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers down to the Murray River and further down its course to Lake Alexandria (Alexandria) in South Australia. Exhausted due to the low food supply, the expedition barely made it back 1,400 km upstream. In 1834, Sturt was granted 2000 hectares of land near modern Canberra. He took up animal husbandry, but did not stop exploring the environs of Lake Alexandria. Four years later he received the rank of Inspector General of South Australia. His main journey took place in 1844, when Sturt once again organized an expedition in search of the inland sea. A heroic attempt to penetrate the desert interior of the continent led him to the Stone Desert, later named in his honor (Sturt's Stony Desert), where he had to spend six months in "imprisonment" in the town of Preservation Creek. Charles Sturt was attentive, a benevolent man who showed deep respect for all the participants of his expeditions and earned the respect of the natives, a real living embodiment of the image of an English gentleman.

Stewart, John McDual (John McDouall Stuart) (1815 - 1866) -
traveler and explorer of Australia. Stewart graduated from the Naval Academy in Scotland with a degree in civil engineering. Fortunately for Australia, he considered himself unfit for military service with his height of 165 cm and weighing less than 50 kg. Intrigued by the stories he heard about the colony of New South Wales, he immigrated there in 1839 and at first worked as a surveyor. Perhaps it was this profession that instilled in Stewart a love for the remote, sparsely populated areas of Australia. Later, John began to farm, and in 1844 he joined Sturt's expedition to the central part of the country, which lasted 17 months. Upon his return, Stewart worked in real estate for 12 years. However, by 1858 the "call of the desert" had become unbearable. Together with an Aboriginal hunter and another companion, Stuart explored the area north of Adelaide to Streaky Bay. He was awarded the Royal Medal Geographic Society for overcoming the hardest 1200 km through the unexplored bush.

However, the difficulties of this expedition only stoked Stewart's passion for exploration. The following year, he made two more geodetic expeditions to explore the area he had explored. In March 1860, Stewart made the first of his two most important voyages. He and two fellow travelers on 13 horses reached the geographical center of the Australian continent. Having withstood the attacks of the natives, starving and thirsty, the expedition in full force returned to Adelaide.

Leichhardt, Ludwig (Ludwig Leichhardt, real name Friedrich Wilhelm) (1813 - 1848) - traveler and explorer of Australia. In Australia, Friedrich Leichhardt is better known as Ludwig. At first glance, he was not at all fit for travelers. He had poor eyesight, was completely unskilled in handling weapons, and had no experience of life in the bush. Nevertheless, his second fifteen-month expedition is still considered a milestone in the history of exploration of the Australian continent. His expedition traveled 4,800 kilometers from the Darling Valley to the port of Essington near Darwin. Organized with money from just a few private individuals, it started from Jumbo Station in October 1844. Most of the group members, in their skills and professional qualities, were, as it were, a mirror image of Leichhardt himself. The expedition included a young Englishman, a middle-class exiled convict, a young shepherd, two natives and a Negro. Only one European had practical Bushman experience. It was John Gilbert, a naturalist who worked with renowned ornithologist John Gould. Unfortunately, he died during the attack of the natives on the camp of the expedition in June 1845. The arrival of the expedition in the port of Essington in December 1845 was a real surprise, since its participants had long been considered dead by that time. Three of the participants did die, but the rest made it through much of Queensland and the Northern Territories, opening up several significant rivers and much land suitable for agriculture in the process. Leichhardt set out again in 1846, intending to traverse the entire north of Australia and reach Perth along the east coast. But the expedition returned after covering only about 800 kilometers, due to illness, bad weather and disagreements among its members. Not afraid of failure, Leichhardt found sponsors for a new expedition that started from the town of Condamine River (Condamine River) in 1948. It consisted of four white men, two natives, as well as seven horses, twelve mules and fifty oxen. Nobody ever saw them again.

Burke Robert O ’ Hara (1821 - 1861) - English explorer

Australia. In 1858-1860, he first crossed the continent from north to south, making his way from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Died on the way back. Burke was not one of the travelers-

researchers. It was an adventurer, a condottiere of the 19th century. He was born in Ireland. Having received an education, he served in the Austrian army until 1848, then returned to Ireland and was in the ranks of the mounted police there. In 1853, he appeared in Melbourne, where he quickly rose to the post of head of the police department in the gold mines of the British colony of Victoria. Burke put things in order there with a firm hand, which earned him the recognition of those in power. According to contemporaries, he combined typical Irish features - directness and courage with suspiciousness and dreaminess. In 1858, the Royal Society in Melbourne and a group of private individuals equipped a trans-Australian expedition, which was supposed to cross the mainland from south to north from Adelaide to the Gulf of Carpentaria and return to the southern shores of Australia in much the same way. At that time, messages from London reached the Australian South with a delay of two months. If it were possible to stretch a wire line across the Australian continent, communication with London would take several hours. In addition, it would open up the opportunity to establish trade relations with the countries of Asia through the ports of the northern coast. By ten votes to five, 39-year-old Robert 0 "Hara Burke was approved as the head of the expedition. Before that, he had not participated in any long campaign, especially in the deserts. George Lendells was appointed Burke's deputy, who soon went to India for camels. He returned with three dozen "ships of the desert"; with him from India came the young Irishman John King, fired up with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe campaign. Two sepoys of the Indian army, Baloch and Mohammed, were supposed to lead the camels through the Australian desert. The expedition also included Germans by origin, a botanist and doctor Herman Beckler and naturalist Ludwig Becker.The cartographer was 27-year-old employee of the Melbourne Observatory, William Wills.The remaining members of the detachment were selected from seven hundred candidates.August 20, 1860, all of Melbourne went out to see Burke and his companions on a long trip.The caravan consisted of 23 horses and 25 camels carrying 21 tons of cargo.Special mention deserves 60 gallons (273 liters) of rum ... for camels yudov. Lendells argued that camels simply needed a daily serving of rum to lift their spirits. On September 6, having traveled a hundred miles across the plain to the village of Swan Hill, Burke, dissatisfied with the speed of movement, decided to get rid of excess cargo and arranged an auction. Difficulties arose on the next stretch of the road to Balranald; The hardships of the campaign began to make themselves felt. Judging by the beautiful watercolors of Becker, the expedition was divided into two columns, the camels were separated from the horses, since the animals did not get along with each other. Loaded wagons and rented wagons trudged far behind the column, bogged down in the sand. With each passing day, unforeseen expenses increased. In January 1860, another expedition, John Stewart, started from Adelaide, the capital of the colony of South Australia. The traveler intended to reach the north coast, following the route of Sturt. The expeditions of Burke and Stewart were closely followed in Australia. People made bets on who would reach the goal first. Newspapers called the rivalry of travelers

"The Great Australian Race". In October, Burke crossed the Darling at Lake Menindee. Here he decided to divide the detachment and lead a search party of eight people with 16 camels and 15 horses. The rest were to smash near Lake Menindee base camp, wait for the stragglers with food and then catch up with the advanced column. Burke took this step to get ahead of the competition. Between Menindee and Coopers Creek lay four hundred miles of salt marshes. The boundless surface is cut by the soft contour of the rocky ridge of Binguano, the famous "gallery" of the rock art of the Villacali tribe. Burke's companion Wills was the first to describe the "romantic ravine". In the future, not one of the travelers passed over in silence this unique museum open air. Leaving behind the orange ridge, Burke's party advanced towards the swamps of Torovato. From there, Burke sent Wright to Menindi with orders to "bring in the remaining camels as soon as possible." He handed over to the Melbourne committee a letter in which he accepted the resignation of Dr. Bechler and asked to approve Wright as the third leader of the expedition. Wills was named second. On November 11, Burke's advance party reached one of the channels of Cooper's Creek. On the very first night, the expedition was subjected to a monstrous invasion of rats. I had to look for another place just downstream; here, near the spring, they pitched the infamous Camp 65. All Burke's attempts to break through from here further north failed. During the last attempt, three camels escaped, and Wills and McDonough had to walk back to camp for two days. Burke decides to split the squad again. Wills, King and Gray were to go with him on a campaign through the remaining half of the continent. William Brage was appointed head of the base near Coopers Creek. He had to settle in a tiny base, build a fortification around it and wait for Burke to return. At dawn on December 16, Burke, with three companions and a caravan of six camels, left the camp to the north. After passing along the coast of Cooper's Creek, the detachment turned to the northwest, to the area then known as the Sturt Stony Desert (now the Simpson Desert). The travelers were lucky: it rained over the area through which the expedition route passed. A few days later, the detachment reached the Diamantina River and moved north along its bank. Having met the new, 1861, southeast of the modern Lake Macchatti, on January 7, the expedition reached the Tropic of Capricorn. Wills notes signs of life in his diary: they saw pigeons, ducks, and a lone bustard. But the hardships of the long journey are already making themselves felt. Burke makes one of the few entries in his notebook: "... I am proud that we have fallen to such a severe test." The route drawn by Wills shows that they moved north along the 140th meridian from 25° to 22° latitude, stubbornly following an invisible track. They walked for 12 or more hours a day. In early February, the endless plains were left behind, and the travelers came to a hilly upland, which Burke named after his friend - the Standish ridge. Climbing up, they saw another, higher mountain range lying to the north - the Selwyn Range. Burke decides to go straight through it, although the camels "wheezed and gasped" already at low

height. Finally they came to the rather large Flinders River. Moving north, the expedition found itself in the tropics, in the land of heavy rains and damp, suffocating heat. In the last, 119th camp, the water was salty, the tide was clearly felt. Burke and Wills both tried to push forward, taking a horse named Billy with them, but it quickly bogged down in the swampy soil. Travelers moved around the bog, met a group of natives, who frightened rushed to their heels; then they ran into another group of dark-skinned people who gestured towards the sea. Finally, on February 11, 1861, Burke and Wills reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. An entry appeared in Burke's diary: "We were unable to reach open ocean although we have used all our strength for this. The way was blocked by swamps, flooded by a torrential wave, and a wall of mangroves. Nevertheless, they did something that no one before them could do. nor the first to cross the Australian continent. Six months and 1650 miles separated them from Melbourne. Now they were on their way back, with only four weeks' worth of food left. Showing miracles of perseverance, Wills continues to keep a diary on the way back. Wills was the first to take it. Realizing that he could not move on, he asked Burke and King to leave him in an abandoned native hut. On June 29, Burke and King left the dying Wills and traveled up the banks of Cooper's Creek in search of the natives; they understood that this was the only way to salvation. Until the last moment, Wills kept a diary, and these brief entries give an idea of ​​the incredible hardships experienced by the expedition members on the last leg of their journey. Burke died a day after Wills. Before his death, he noted in his notebook: “King behaved nobly, and I hope that if he survives, he will be rewarded according to his deserts. He stayed with me to the last opportunity and left me at my command; I ordered him to leave my body unburied and to put a pistol in my hands before leaving.” On the morning of July 1, Burke died. King was lucky: he met the natives, who fed him and gave him a healing broth. On September 15, one of the rescue teams came across a camp and found among the natives a ragged, overgrown white. It was King. The remains of Burke and Wills were later moved to Melbourne, where they rest under a granite monument. Stewart's expedition reached the north coast on July 24, 1862. The stories of Brahe, who arrived in Melbourne, stirred up the whole city. Rescue expeditions were organized in various parts of Australia. A. Howit explored the lower reaches of Coopers Creek, other detachments thoroughly explored northeastern Australia. In the course of these studies, almost all the rivers flowing from the interior of the mainland to the southeast corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria were mapped. In the basins of the Albert, Gilbert, Albany, Flinders, and Thomson rivers, grazing land was found, though suitable in good years and in wet seasons. William Landsborough, who, in search of Burke, traveled from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the south along the Gregory River valley, discovered a vast hilly upland, which he named the Barclay Plateau in honor of the governor of the province of Victoria, Henry Barclay. Within this plateau, equal in area to three Switzerlands, Nathaniel

Buchanan in 1877 identified colossal grazing lands (now the Barclay Plateau is the main area for sheep breeding Northern Australia). John McKinley went in search of Burke from Adelaide in August 1861. He reached Cooper's Creek, where he learned from the natives where Gray was buried. Then he headed north, discovered the Diamantina River and, along the Leichhardt River, made an attempt to descend in May 1862 to the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, he could not get to the sea through dense mangroves. The search parties of A. Howit, W. Landsborough, J. McKinley, sent in the footsteps of Burke, made a significant contribution to the history of Australian discoveries. In February and March, travelers had to slaughter camels for meat, leaving only two. On April 17, 1861, they buried Gray near Lake Kuidzhi. People were exhausted to such an extent that it took a whole day to dig the grave. The week before, in order not to starve to death, they had to kill Billy's horse. Only 70 miles remained to Coopers Creek... On the morning of April 21, Brahe and his companions left Camp 65 and slowly moved along the channel of Coopers Creek. The hope of the return of Burke's detachment faded from him. He waited for the expedition 126 days instead of three months. Before leaving, Brahe buried a supply of dried meat, flour, sugar, oatmeal and rice in case Burke did return to the camp. The Brahe detachment traveled only 14 miles and in the evening of the same day stood up for a halt. Nine and a half hours after the departure of the Brahe group, the three pioneers - Burke, Wills and King - reached Camp 65. They covered 2400 miles. But the camp was empty! The gap of nine and a half hours proved fatal. Burke found a "stash" with provisions and a note to Braga. One can imagine the bitterness of their disappointment. The expedition decided to continue towards Mount Hoples southwest of Coopers Creek. Burke did not hope to catch up with Brahe's squad, for he indicated in a note: "All members of the group and animals are healthy," although in reality this was not the case. Burke also did not know that Wright's force was moving towards Camp 65. Wills wrote on April 21: “It is hard to imagine how sad and disappointed we were to find that the base was abandoned.

After a painful four-month transition and the hardships that we have experienced during this time, we are completely exhausted. Our legs are almost paralyzed, so that every yard of the journey causes unimaginable suffering. Meanwhile, Brahe continued southeast along the course of Cooper's Creek through the desert towards Bull. One day at dawn he saw Wright's column. Leaving people on the day. Brahe and Wright, taking the three strongest horses, raced back to Cooper's Creek. But there were no travelers in the camp. In their haste, Brahe and Wright did not even notice the traces left by Burke's expedition that had been here. For a whole month, Burke and his companions got out of the swamps surrounding Coopers Creek. One camel got stuck in a bog and had to be shot; the second soon became so exhausted that he suffered the same fate. Having packed the remnants of provisions in backpacks, the three brave decide to make a forced throw, but, having traveled 45 miles, they were forced to retreat back to Coopers Creek. The aborigines who met along the way taught them how to bake cakes from grated cane and from time to time fed them with fish. But one day Burke drove them away from the bivouac with a shot from a gun - he

it seemed that the natives were taking away the already meager stocks of provisions.

Wills was the first to give up. Realizing that he could not move on, he asked Burke and King to leave him in an abandoned native hut. On June 29, Burke and King left the dying Wills and traveled up the banks of Cooper's Creek in search of the natives; they understood that this was the only way to salvation.

Until the last moment, Wills kept a diary, and these brief entries give an idea of ​​the incredible hardships experienced by the expedition members on the last leg of their journey. Burke died a day after Wills. Before his death, he noted in his notebook: “King behaved nobly, and I hope that if he survives, he will be rewarded according to his deserts. He stayed with me to the last opportunity and left me at my command; I ordered him to leave my body unburied and to put a pistol in my hands before leaving.”

On the morning of July 1, Burke died. King was lucky: he met the natives, who fed him and gave him a healing broth. On September 15, one of the rescue teams came across a camp and found among the natives a ragged, overgrown white. It was King. The remains of Burke and Wills were later moved to Melbourne, where they rest under a granite monument. Stewart's expedition reached the north coast on July 24, 1862. The stories of Brahe, who arrived in Melbourne, stirred up the whole city. Rescue expeditions were organized in various parts of Australia. A. Howit explored the lower reaches of Coopers Creek, other detachments thoroughly explored northeastern Australia. In the course of these studies, almost all the rivers flowing from the interior of the mainland to the southeast corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria were mapped.

In the basins of the Albert, Gilbert, Albany, Flinders, and Thomson rivers, grazing land was found, though suitable in good years and in wet seasons. William Landsborough, who, in search of Burke, traveled from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the south along the Gregory River valley, discovered a vast hilly upland, which he named the Barclay Plateau in honor of the governor of the province of Victoria, Henry Barclay. Within this plateau, which is equal in area to three Switzerlands, Nathaniel Buchanan in 1877 identified colossal grazing lands (now the Barkley Plateau is the main sheep breeding region of Northern Australia). John McKinley went in search of Burke from Adelaide in August 1861. He reached Cooper's Creek, where he learned from the natives where Gray was buried. Then he headed north, discovered the Diamantina River and, along the Leichhardt River, made an attempt to descend in May 1862 to the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, he could not get to the sea through dense mangroves. The search parties of A. Howit, W. Landsborough, J. McKinley, sent in the footsteps of Burke, made a significant contribution to the history of Australian discoveries.

Forrest, Sir John (Sir John Forres) (1847 - 1918) - traveler and explorer of Australia. Even before he came of age, Forrest was appointed leader of an expedition sent in search of traces

missing 21 years before Ludwig Leichhardt. A year later, he led an expedition from Perth to Adelaide along the coast of the Great Australian Bight. Forrest had nothing good to say about this waterless area. The expedition produced little practical results, but little land suitable for agriculture was found. Then in March 1874 he led an expedition from Champion Bay and Carvarona Farms through the Gibson Desert to the Overland Telegraph line. At that time, no one knew what the western part of the continent was like. Water sources were few in number and far from each other, they had to be searched for by observing the behavior of local animals. The expedition was subjected to two of the most severe attacks by the natives, as the travelers made a stop on the holy land for the locals. In addition, the researchers suffered from a lack of water and food, which eventually caused scurvy. Once, being 1,500 kilometers from the nearest settlement, the expedition was saved from death only thanks to unexpected rain - an extremely rare phenomenon for the desert. Finally, in September, the travelers reached the Overland Telegraph Line. The telegraph operator, startled by their appearance, gave them food and clothing, and they were able to send a telegram home. Thus, one of the few remaining "blank spots" on the map of Australia was filled. Forrest's research was noted by the government by his appointment to various positions of responsibility. When Western Australia was granted partial self-government in 1890, Forrest was elected Premier.

Conclusion

In conclusion of my essay, I would like to say what modern Australia is like. The vast majority of the 17 million people in Australia are descendants of English and Irish settlers - Anglo-Australians (80%). About 9% of the population are recent immigrants from the British Isles, 2% are immigrants from Italy. Among the immigrants there are also immigrants from Greece, the Netherlands, a few Chinese and Indians. Indigenous mainlanders - Australian Aborigines at the end of 1979. were only 45-50 thousand people. By the time European settlers arrived on the Australian continent in 1788. the indigenous population was approximately 300 thousand people. For a long time, the natives were deprived of civil rights. Now some of the natives continue to lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle. The average population density in Australia is 2 people per 1 km2. The distribution of the population across the territory is uneven. Coastal regions in the east and southwest of the continent have a high population density, inland territories almost deserted. Most of the population lives in cities, while 2/3 live in large cities. The capital is Canberra (300 thousand inhabitants). Australia is one of the most urbanized
countries of the world. January 1, 1901 The birth of the Commonwealth of Australia, a federation of six states, is proclaimed. The Commonwealth of Australia is the only state in the world that occupies the territory of an entire continent. The state also includes the island of Tasmania and a number of smaller islands. The state has a developed economy. According to the main economic indicators, by the beginning of the 90s, Australia was among the ten most industrialized developed countries peace. Based on various minerals, a mining industry was formed here. The country is rapidly developing mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, as well as the food industry: butter-making, cheese-making, and the production of canned food. Agriculture is also well developed. The leading place in agriculture belongs to pasture
animal husbandry - sheep breeding. Cattle, mostly thoroughbred cows, are bred mainly in the north and east of the country. Manual labor in the economy occupies a very small share. Among agricultural crops leading place occupied by wheat. The wheat fields are in the southeast
and southwest of the country. Close to major cities There are many orchards on irrigated lands.

Bibliography:

1. Anichkin O.N., Kurakova L.I., Frolova L.G., Australia,
M., 1983.
2. Korinskaya V.A., Dushina I.V., Shchenev V.A., Geography 7th grade,
M., 1993.
3. Maksakovskiy V., Petrova N., Preparing for the exam in
geography, M., 1998.
4. Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary, M., 1985.
5. Ed. Pashkanga K.V., Physical geography for sub-
preparatory departments of universities, M., 1995.

Australia is one of the most exotic English-speaking countries in the world. With a high standard of living and an attractive immigration policy, many see it as a place to live or work. If you are learning English to move to Australia, or for work, study or pleasure, it will be helpful to get a general idea of ​​the history of this country.

prehistoric australia

About 50 thousand years ago, the first people arrived on the southern mainland of Australia - the earliest sea travelers in the world. Geologists believe that at that time the island of New Guinea in the north and Tasmania in the south were part of the continent.

After several thousand years, the mainland began to be actively settled. The earliest archaeological find of human remains in Australia is the so-called Mungo Man, who lived about 40,000 years ago. According to it, scientists have determined that the first inhabitants of Australia were massive and tall people.

In the prehistoric period, Australia was settled by people in several waves. About 5 thousand years ago, with the next stream of migrants, the dingo dog appeared on the mainland - the only non-marsupial Australian predator. Only by the 2nd millennium BC did the Australian Aborigines acquire their modern look, evolving and mixing with the newcomers.

The aborigines formed diverse tribes with their own languages, culture, religion and tradition. By the time the Europeans discovered Australia, there were about 500 tribes on the mainland who spoke about 250 different languages. None of them had a written language, so their history is not well known. They used symbolic drawings, retelling ancient legends in them. These myths and archaeological finds are the only data that historians studying Australia can use.

Since people began to settle Australia quite a long time ago (for comparison, people came to the territory of America only 13 thousand years ago, as much as 27 thousand years later) and before the arrival of Europeans were not influenced by the rest of the world, the Australian aboriginal civilization is considered one of the oldest continuous cultures. in the world.

European studies of the mainland

It is officially believed that Australia was discovered Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. He sailed to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north of the mainland and landed on the Cape York Peninsula - the northernmost point of Australia, which is only 160 kilometers from New Guinea. A year before, the Spaniard Luis Vaes Torres swam in these waters, who passed very close to the Australian coast and even supposedly saw the land on the horizon, but mistook it for another archipelago.

There are several other alternative theories for the discovery of Australia. According to one of them, Portuguese navigators discovered the mainland before Willem Janszon. The flotilla under the leadership of de Siqueira explored the path to Moluccas and sent several expeditions around the archipelago. One of these expeditions under the command of Mendonza in 1522 allegedly visited northwestern shores Australia.

The theory of the early discovery of Australia looks plausible, since 16th century cannons were found just on the west coast in the 20th century. On the territory of the mainland, unusual finds have been discovered more than once, which can only be explained by the early voyages of Europeans to the Australian shores. However, these theories are considered controversial. In addition, the discovery of Australia remained unknown to Europe until the voyages of the Dutch.

Janszon declared the found territories the possession of the Netherlands, although the Dutch did not begin their development. In the next few decades, the Dutch continued to explore Australia. In 1616 Derk Hartog visited the west coast, three years later Frederick de Houtman explored several hundred kilometers of the coast. In 1644, Abel Tasman launched his famous sea voyages, during which he discovered New Zealand, Tasmania, Fiji and Tonga, and also proved that Australia was a separate continent.

The Dutch explored only the west coast of Australia, the rest of the coastline and inland remained unexplored until the voyages of James Cook a century later, in 1769. It was believed that New Holland (the first name of Australia) discovered by the Dutch does not belong to the hypothetical southern mainland Terra Australis Incognita, the existence of which has been suspected since ancient times. New Holland was an inhospitable place with a difficult climate and hostile natives, so there was no interest in it for a long time.

In the middle of the 18th century, the British came up with the idea of ​​exiling convicts to the islands of the Southern Ocean, or supposedly existing mainland called the Unknown Southern Land. In 1769, English lieutenant James Cook set off on the ship Endeavor to Tahiti on a secret mission to find the southern mainland and explore the coast of New Holland.

Cook sailed to the east coast of Australia and landed in Botany Bay. After examining the coastal lands, he concluded that they were favorable enough for the establishment of a colony. Then Cook went along the coast in a northwesterly direction and found the strait between Australia and New Guinea (thus proving that this island is not part of the mainland). The navigator did not fulfill the task of finding the southern mainland.

During the second round-the-world expedition, Cook explored the southern latitudes and came to the conclusion that there are no large lands in them except Australia. Dreams of Terra Australis were shattered, but a free name remained. In 1814, the English navigator Matthew Flinders suggested that New Holland should be called Australia. By that time, colonies from several states already existed on the mainland, which did not immediately accept the proposal, but eventually began to use this name. In 1824 it became official.

British colonization of Australia

Cook recommended Botany Bay for settlement. Here in 1787 the first fleet with settlers went. They were convicts - but for the most part not malicious criminals, robbers and murderers, but former merchants and farmers convicted of short terms for minor crimes. Many of them were soon granted pardons and allocated plots for farms. The rest of the settlers were infantrymen with their families, officers and other employees.

The ships found a convenient place for colonization near Botany Bay - Port Jackson Bay, where they founded a settlement in Sydney Cove. The date the colony was founded, January 26, 1788, later became a national holiday, Australia Day. A month later, the governor of the settlement officially announced the creation of a colony, which was called New South Wales. Locality was named after the British Home Secretary Viscount Sidney. This is how the city of Sydney appeared - now the largest and most developed in Australia.

The governor of the colony tried to improve relations with the natives, helped the convicts to improve, and established trade and agriculture. The first years were difficult for the settlers: there was not enough food, the convicts had few professional skills, and new convicts arriving in the colony turned out to be sick and disabled after a long and difficult voyage. But the governor managed to develop the colony, and from 1791 its affairs began to go uphill.

The living conditions of the convicts were harsh. They had to do a lot of work to create a colony: build houses and roads, help farmers. They starved and were severely punished. But the pardoned prisoners remained in Australia, received their allotments and could themselves hire convicts. One such ex-convict grew the first successful crop of wheat in 1789. Soon the colony began to provide itself with food.

In 1793, the first free settlers arrived in Sydney (except for the military guarding the convicts). They were given land free of charge, provided agricultural equipment for the first time, and were given the right to free movement and use the labor of prisoners.

Mainland exploration

After the founding of the colony, exploration of Australia continued. Europeans used the services of local guides, so most of the trips were successful. In 1813 an expedition by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth passed through the ranges of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and found extensive pastures. In 1824, the Hume and Hovell expedition made many important discoveries, discovered the Murray River and its tributaries, and discovered many new pastures.

In 1828, Charles Sturt discovered the Darling River and reached the point where the Murray River flows into the Great Australian Bight. Then followed a whole series of expeditions, filling in the gaps of previous research. European and Australian explorers retained many of the original place names instead of giving their own. In 1839, the Polish traveler Strzelecki climbed the highest peak in Australia - Mount Kosciuszko in the Australian Alps.

In 1829, Great Britain claimed its rights to all western part Australia. The colony of New South Wales was divided into several, the colonies of Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory, Swan River appeared. Settlers gradually spread across the continent. At this time, the major cities of Melbourne and Brisbane were founded.

Under the onslaught of European colonists, the natives retreated from the coasts inland. Their numbers greatly decreased due to the diseases brought by the settlers. In the middle of the 19th century all indigenous people were moved to reservations, many were sent there by force.

By 1840 the tradition of sending convicts to Australia was being forgotten, and after 1868 it was no longer practiced.

Golden fever

In the 1850s, the gold rush began in Australia. The British authorities established licenses for gold mining, which was extremely disliked by gold miners. In 1854, prospectors from Ballarat raised an uprising, now known as the Eureka. The rebels created the Ballarat Reform League and made a number of demands to the government: to introduce universal suffrage, to abolish gold mining licenses, to abolish property restrictions for parliamentary candidates.

The resistance of the gold diggers was crushed, they were arrested and put on trial. But the court did not find the rebels guilty. Many of the miners' demands were met: licenses were canceled and the right to apply to parliament was given. The Eureka Rebellion stimulated the development of liberalism in Australia. This event became one of the key in the history of the country.

In 1855, New South Wales became self-governing while remaining part of the British Empire. Other Australian colonies soon followed. Their governments have been internal affairs, A foreign policy, defense and trade continued to be in charge of Great Britain.

The "Gold Rush" caused an economic boom in Australia. The next few decades were prosperous for Australians. In the 1890s, the economic situation began to deteriorate, at the same time it began to increase labor movement, new political parties began to appear, and the Australian colonies began to think about uniting.

Australian Union

For ten years, the colonies discussed the issue of unification and prepared to create a single country. In 1901, they created the Commonwealth of Australia, a federal state that was a dominion of the British Empire. In the early years, the capital of the Union was the city of Melbourne, but already in 1911, the future capital of Australia, the city of Canberra, began to be built on a specially allocated Federal Capital Territory. In 1927, the construction of the city was completed and the Union government settled in it.

A little later, the Federation included several territories that had previously been subordinate to Great Britain: the Norfolk Islands, Cartier and Ashmore. It was assumed that Australia would include New Zealand, but she chose to seek independence from Great Britain on her own.

The Australian economy was heavily dependent on exports. The country had to import a large number of grain and wool. The Great Depression that began in the United States in 1929 and the global depression that followed economic crisis seriously affected Australia. The unemployment rate rose to a record 29%.

In 1931, the British Parliament adopted the Statute of Westminster, which established the position of the dominions. According to it, the British dominions received full official independence, but retained the right of the British monarch to hold the post of head of state. Australia ratified this statute only in 1942, becoming effectively independent from Great Britain.

History of Australia after Independence

Second World War boosted the Australian economy. The Australians received a promise of protection from the United States in the event of a Japanese attack, so they took part in hostilities without risk to themselves. After the war, many residents of dilapidated Europe decided to move to Australia. The Australian government encouraged immigration, wanting to increase the country's population and attract talented professionals.

By 1975, two million immigrants had arrived in Australia. Most of them are former residents of Great Britain and Ireland. Thus, most of the Australian population are native speakers of English, which has evolved into an Australian dialect. official language the state does not.

In the 70s, the Australian government carried out a number of important reforms, the significance of which is still preserved: free higher education, the abolition of compulsory military service, the recognition of the right of aborigines to land, and others. From former colony Convicts Australia has become a highly developed country with one of the highest levels of immigration.

What is the history of Australia? Let's take a brief look at the events that are associated with its discovery. Some researchers express their assumptions, according to which, the first Europeans who reached the coast of Australia at the beginning of the seventeenth century were the Portuguese.

What is the history of the discovery and exploration of Australia? Briefly, this information is presented in encyclopedias, but they do not contain interesting points that confirm the interest of travelers in this territory. Among the evidence that it was the Portuguese who became the discoverers of Australia, the following arguments can be made:

1. Maps of Dieppe, which were published in the middle of the 16th century in France, contain an image of a large land area between Antarctica and Indonesia, called Java la Grande. All explanations and symbols on the map are in Portuguese and French.
2. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Portuguese colonies were located in Southeast Asia. For example, the island of Timor, which is located 650 kilometers from the Australian coast, was attributed precisely to Portuguese travelers.

French "trace"

What other interesting facts does the history of the discovery of Australia and Oceania contain? We will also briefly tell that the French navigator Binot Polmier de Gonneville told that it was he who landed on unknown lands near the Cape of Good Hope in 1504. This happened after his ship blew the winds off the intended course. Thanks to this statement, it was this traveler who was credited with the discovery of Australia for a long time. After some time, it was found out that he was on the coast of Brazil.

Discovery of Australia by the Dutch

Let's continue the conversation about what is the history of the discovery of Australia and Oceania. Let us dwell briefly on the first indisputable fact documented in the winter of 1606. The expedition of the Dutch East India Company, led by Willem Janson, managed, together with his comrades, to land on the coast from the ship Dove. After sailing from the island of Java, they went to the southern part of New Guinea, moving along it, the Dutch expedition managed after some time to reach the shores of the Cape York Peninsula, located in northern Australia. The team members were confident that they were still off the coast of New Guinea.

It is the history of the development of Australia that is briefly considered in the school course on geography. The expedition did not see which divides the coast of Australia and New Guinea. On February 26, members of the team landed near the site where the city of Weipa is currently located. The Dutch were immediately attacked by the natives. Later, Janson and his men explored about 350 kilometers of the coast of Australia, sometimes making landfalls. His crew constantly ran into hostile natives, so several Dutch sailors were killed during fierce battles with the natives. The captain decided to return. He never understood what he and his team managed to discover new mainland. Since Janson, in describing his exploration of the coast, described it as a swampy and deserted place, no one attached much importance to his new discovery. The East India Company sent out expeditions in the hope of enriching themselves with jewels and spices, and not at all for serious geographical discoveries.

Luis Vaes de Torres

Describing briefly the history of the exploration of Australia, one can also say about how this traveler moved through the same strait through which Janson's team first passed. Geographers have suggestions that Torres and his comrades managed to visit north coast continent, but no written confirmation of this hypothesis has been found. After some time, the strait began to be called Torres in honor of Luis Vaez de Torres.

Notable expeditions

The story of the discovery and exploration of Australia is also of interest, briefly telling about the voyage of the next ship of the Dutch East India Company, which was driven by Dirk Hartog. In 1616, the ship managed to reach the western coast of Australia, near Shark Bay. For three days, sailors explored the coast, and explored the nearby islands. The Dutch found nothing of interest, so Hartog decided to continue sailing north along a coastline that had not been explored before. The team then headed to Batavia.

Where is the history of the discovery of Australia described? Briefly, grade 7 studies information about expeditions here from Europe in the 16-17 centuries. For example, educators talk about how in 1619 Jacob d'Erdel and Frederick de Houtman went on two ships to explore the Australian coast. As they moved north, they discovered a band of reefs called Houtman's Rock.

Continued research

After this expedition, other Dutch sailors repeatedly found themselves near these shores, calling the land New Holland. They did not even try to explore the coast, as they did not find any commercial interest here.

The beautiful coastline, even if it aroused their curiosity, clearly did not stimulate them to explore what useful resources Australia has. The history of the country briefly tells about the exploration of the northern and western coasts. The Dutch concluded that the northern lands were barren and unsuitable for use. The sailors did not see the eastern and southern coasts at that time, so Australia was undeservedly recognized as uninteresting for use.

First buildings

In the summer of 1629, the Batavia, an East India Company ship, was shipwrecked off the Houtman Rocks. Soon there was a mutiny, as a result of which a small fort was built by part of the crew for protection. It became the first European construction in Australia. Geographers suggest that at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, about fifty European ships reached the territory of Australia.

The history of the development and settlement of Australia briefly tells about the discoveries made by ships. In 1642, he tried to go around New Holland from the south, while discovering an island called Van Diemen's Land. Some time later it was renamed Tasmania. With the subsequent advance to the east, after some time, the ships ended up near New Zealand. Tasman's first voyage was not successful; travelers failed to approach Australia.

The history of Australia briefly tells that Tasman was able to study the northwest coast in detail only in 1644, to prove that all the lands that were discovered and analyzed in earlier expeditions are constituent parts one mainland.

English Studies

The history of Australia briefly notes the English contribution to its study. Until the second half of the seventeenth century, there was practically no information in England about the lands that were discovered by Dutch travelers. In 1688, a pirate ship carrying an Englishman, William Dampier, ended up on the northwest coast, near Lake Melville. This fact has been preserved by the history of Australia. Briefly, the surviving records say that after the repair, the ship returned to England. Here, Dampier published a story about the journey, which aroused genuine interest among the English Admiralty.

In 1699, Dampier set out on a second voyage to the coast of Australia on the ship Roebuck. But as part of this trip, he did not find anything interesting, so the Admiralty decided to stop funding the expedition.

Cook's expedition

Talking about the history of the discovery of Australia, one cannot leave without due attention the expedition of 1170, led by Lieutenant James Cook. On the sailboat "Attempt" his team went to the South Pacific. The official purpose of the expedition was to make astronomical observations, but in fact Cook received from the Admiralty the task of studying the southern part of the continent. Cook believed that since New Holland has a west coast, therefore, there must be an east coast.

At the end of April 1770, an English expedition landed on the east coast of Australia. The landing site was first named Stingray Bay, then it was renamed Botany Bay because of the unusual plants that were found there.

The open lands were named Cook New Wales and then New South Wales. The Englishman had no idea how big the discovery made by him.

British colonies

The lands that Cook discovered were decided to be colonized, using them as the first colonies for convicts. The fleet, led by Captain Arthur Philip, included 11 ships. He arrived in Australia in January 1788, but, recognizing the region as inconvenient for settlement, they moved north. Governor Philip issued an order establishing the first British colony in Australia. The soils around Sydney Harbor were not suitable for farming, so farms were established near the Parramatta River.

The second fleet, which arrived in Australia in 1790, brought various materials and supplies here. During the journey, 278 convicts and crew members died, so in history it is called the "Death Fleet".

In 1827, a small British settlement was built at King Georges Sound by Major Edmund Lockyer. He became the first governor of a colony created for convicts.

South Australia was founded in 1836. It was not intended for convicts, but some of the former prisoners moved here from other colonies.

Conclusion

It was mastered almost fifty thousand years before it official opening European travelers. For centuries, in the waterless deserts and tropical jungles of the continent, people have lived with original culture, religion. After the colonization of the Australian coast, a period of active exploration of the territory began. Among the first serious researchers who managed to study the channels of the rivers Macquarie, Loklan, geographers name John Oxley. Robert Burke became the first Englishman to cross the mainland from north to south. The discovery of Australia was the result of a centuries-old search for the Dutch, Portuguese, and British of the Southern country.

In 2006, archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in Australia. This fact led to the promotion of an original hypothesis about the discovery of the contingent by the Egyptians.

Scientists agreed that 1606 can be considered the most likely time for the discovery of Australia. It was then that the famous Dutchman V. Janszon explored the northeastern part - the Cape York Peninsula.

The history of the settlement of Australia is briefly described in this material. Until now, it is associated with numerous mysteries that scientists have yet to solve. For example, guns found during archaeological sites, give reason to believe that the Portuguese visited this territory in the fifteenth century. A complete map of the British colony, which was Australia, scientists managed to draw up only at the beginning of the last century.