Abel Tasman, Dutch navigator: biography, main discoveries. Abel Tasman. What opened. Biography

Abel Janszon Tasman (Dutch. Abel Janszoon Tasman, 1603, Lütjegast, 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 during that period.

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, the Governor-General of the Dutch Indies Van Diemen organized an expedition to the northern part of 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 the mysterious islands supposedly discovered by the Spaniards to the 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 about three months in the Japanese port of Hirado.

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 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. 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. It was south West 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,” 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 on the northwestern tip of the South Island of 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 nasty east winds forced him to lie down. 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. On the map, 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 in area is only slightly larger than Great Britain.

Having opened on January 5 a small island of the Three Wise Men (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 - Tongatabu, 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. The 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 Moluccas and to 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, opened 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 south coast 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.

Tasman's First and Second Expeditions.
Designations on the map:
________ first expedition 1642-1643;
_ _ _ _ second expedition in 1644.
- shores open to Tasman and known to him;
- shores 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. West Side After this voyage, 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 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 in the 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.

Last years his life he is engaged in entrepreneurship and becomes one of the largest landowners. From this period of his life, only one eloquent, in our opinion, fact is interesting. Shortly before his death, Tasman bequeathed a small amount of money to his native village.

Died great navigator October 10, 1659 in Batavia, when he was not yet 57 years old. His remains lie in the capital of Indonesia, the city of Jakarta (until 1949 Batavia).

Gedenksteen in de muur van de hervormde kerk van Lutjegast (Groningen, Nederland), gewijd aan Abel Tasman memorial plaque on the wall of Lutjegast Reformed Church (Groningen, Netherlands) dedicated to Abel Tasman

Dutch navigator Abel Tasman on a New Zealand postage stamp, 1940,

Named in memory of Abel Janeson Tasman:

He discovered the island of Tasmania off the coast of Australia

Coastal cliffs of the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia. Taken from near the "Devil's Kitchen".

Sea in the South Pacific Ocean between the coasts of Australia and New Zealand
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

Abel Tasman National Park

Mountain peak in New Zealand
Lake in New Zealand
Bay in New Zealand
Administrative region in New Zealand

Tasman Abel Janszon, famous Dutch navigator, discoverer of New Zealand, the Fiji and Bismarck archipelagos, as well as many other small islands. It is named after him located south of Australia, which was the very first visited by Abel Tasman. What else this one discovered and also where he visited - read about it in this material.

The mystery of the origin of the navigator

In fact, not much is known about Abel Tasman, at least there are too few documents at the disposal of historians that could shed light on his biography. Available sources include a sailing diary of 1642-1643, written by him, as well as some of his letters. As for the date of birth of the navigator, only the year is known - 1603. The birthplace of Tasman became known only in 1845, when a will drawn up by him in 1657 was found in the Dutch archives - presumably this is the village of Lütgegast, located in the Dutch province of Groningen.

Also, little is known about the sailor's parents, except that his father was supposedly called Jans, because the second name of Abel Janszon means "son of Jans". Where Tasman was educated, how he became a sailor - there is also no information about this. It is probable that before he was thirty years old he held no high positions, and Abel Tasman's voyages were mostly limited to European waters.

Moving to the Dutch East Indies

In 1633 (according to another version - in 1634), the Dutch sailor left Europe and went to the East Indies, where at that time Abel Tasman served as a skipper on ships owned by the Dutch East India Company, gained experience and proved himself quite well, since already in 1638 he was appointed captain of the ship "Angel".

Tasman had to return to Holland, where he signed a new ten-year contract with the company. In addition, he returned to India with his wife, about whom little is known. They had a daughter, who for many years lived with her father in Batavia (now Jakarta), and then got married and left for Europe.

Looking for treasure

Among Spanish and Dutch seafarers, there have long been legends about some mysterious, rich in precious metals, the islands of Rico de Plata and Rico de Oro, which means “rich in silver” and “rich in gold”, allegedly located in the ocean east of Japan. Anthony van Diemen, then Governor General East India set out to find these islands. Two ships were equipped to search for them, with a total crew of 90 people. The ship "Graft" was headed by Abel Tasman.

On June 2, 1639, the ships left the harbor in Batavia and headed towards Japan. In addition to the main task, the expedition had secondary tasks. Thus, in the Philippine Islands, work was carried out to refine the map this region, in addition, sailors were lucky to discover several new islands from the Bonin archipelago. They were also ordered to barter with the indigenous people of the places they would have to visit. They continued to sail in the intended direction, but soon an epidemic broke out on the ships, as a result of which the expedition was forced to turn back. However, Abel Tasman, whose years of life, by and large, passed in endless voyages, this time did not waste time, continuing to explore the sea on the way back.

New voyages - new dangers

The expedition returned to Batavia on February 19, 1640. Abel Tasman's journey was not entirely successful, since only seven people survived from his team, and the cargo of goods brought did not satisfy van Diemen too much, because mysterious islands rich in treasures could not be found. Nevertheless, the governor general could not help but appreciate the abilities of Abel Tasman, and since then he has repeatedly sent him on various voyages.

During the next expedition to Taiwan, the flotilla was overtaken by a strong typhoon, which sank almost all the ships. Tasman miraculously managed to escape on the only surviving flagship, but his prospects were not bright, because the ship barely kept afloat: the masts and rudder were broken, and the hold was flooded with water. But fate sent the sailor salvation in the form of a Dutch ship that accidentally sailed past.

Preparing a new serious expedition

The Dutch East India Company periodically organized new expeditions to expand its influence. In this regard, Governor-General van Diemen sent another expedition in 1642, the purpose of which was to explore the southern part of the Indian Ocean and find new sea routes. The task was to find after which it was necessary to sail to eastbound looking for optimal route in Chile. In addition, it was necessary to find out the outlines of the southern land, which was discovered by the traveler Willem Janszon at the beginning of the 17th century.

At that time, the Dutch navigator was considered almost the most skilled navigator in East India, so it is not surprising that Abel Tasman was appointed the leader of such an important expedition for the company. What did he discover during this voyage? Tasman wrote about this in detail in his diary.

Discovery of Tasmania

The expedition, which left Batavia on August 14, 1642, was attended by 110 people. The team was supposed to set sail on two ships: the flagship Hemsmerke and the three-masted Seehan with a displacement of 60 and 100 tons, respectively. According to Tasman, the ships on which the sailors were supposed to go on a trip were far from in the best condition, so he understood that it was unlikely that these ships would be able to cross the Pacific Ocean and reach the coast of Chile.

Abel Tasman decided to do a detailed study of the southern Indian Ocean, for which he went to the island of Mauritius, which is located east of Africa, from there turned to the southeast, and then, having reached 49 ° south latitude, took a course to the east. So he reached the shores of the island, which was later named after its discoverer - Tasmania, but the Dutch sailor himself named it Van Diemen's Land, in honor of the governor of the colonies of East India.

Continued sailing and new achievements

The expedition continued sailing and, moving eastward, rounded the newly discovered land along the southern coast. So Abel Tasman reached the western coast of New Zealand, which he then took for the Land of the States (now the island of Estados, located at the southern tip Latin America). Travelers partially explored the coast of New Zealand, and after the captain found out that the lands he had discovered were not the Solomon Islands, he decided to return to Batavia.

Tasman sent the ships of the expedition to the north. On the way back, he happened to discover many new islands, including By the way, European sailors appeared here only 130 years later. Interestingly, Tasman sailed relatively close to the Solomon Islands, which he was ordered to find, but due to poor visibility, the expedition did not notice them.

Return to Batavia. Preparing for the next expedition

The ships Hemsmerk and Zeehan returned to Batavia on June 15, 1643. Since the expedition did not bring any income, and the captain did not fulfill all the tasks assigned to him, the leadership of the East India Company as a whole was dissatisfied with the results of the voyage provided by Abel Tasman. The discovery of Van Diemen's Land, however, pleased the governor, who was full of enthusiasm, believed that all was not lost, and was already thinking about sending a new expedition.

This time he was interested in which, as he believed, it was worth exploring more thoroughly on the subject useful resources. The governor also intended to establish a route between New Guinea and the newly discovered Van Diemen's Land, so he immediately set about organizing a new expedition, led by Tasman.

Exploring the north coast of Australia

Little is known about this voyage of the Dutch navigator, because the only sources testifying to him are a letter from van Diemen addressed to the East India Company, and, in fact, maps compiled by Tasman. The navigator managed to compose detailed map more than three and a half thousand km of the northern coast of Australia, and this served as proof that this land is the mainland.

The expedition returned to Batavia on 4 August 1644. Although the East India Company did not receive any profit this time, no one doubted the merits of the navigator, because Abel Tasman made a great contribution to the study of the outlines of the southern mainland, for which he was awarded the rank of commander in May 1645. In addition, he received a high position and became a member of the Council of Justice of Batavia.

Incorrigible Traveler

Despite the new position that Tasman took, as well as the duties and responsibilities assigned to him, he still periodically went on distant voyages. So, in 1645-1646. he participated in an expedition to the Malay Archipelago, in 1647 sailed to Siam (now Thailand), and in 1648-1649 - to the Philippines.

Abel Tasman, whose biography is full of all sorts of adventures, resigned in 1653. He remained to live in Batavia, where he married a second time, but nothing is known about his second wife, as well as about the first. Having lived a quiet and peaceful life until the age of 56, Tasman died in 1659.

An incident that occurred during one of the many voyages

In Tasman's diary there are a lot of various entries telling about the course of the expedition of 1642-1643, in which the Dutch traveler happened to participate. One of the stories he wrote down tells of an incident that happened on some small island that sailors had to visit.

It so happened that a native shot an arrow towards the arrivals and wounded one of the sailors. Local residents, perhaps afraid of the anger of people on ships, brought the culprit to the ship and handed over to the aliens. They probably assumed that the sailors would deal with their delinquent compatriot, however, most of Tasman's contemporaries, most likely, would have done so. But Abel Tasman turned out to be a compassionate person who was not alien to a sense of justice, so he released his prisoner.

As you know, the sailors who were subordinate to Tasman respected and appreciated him, and this is not surprising, because from this story with the delinquent native we can conclude that he was a worthy person. In addition, he was an experienced navigator and a professional, so the sailors completely trusted him.

Conclusion

Since the expeditions of the Dutch navigator are the first major exploration of the waters of Australia and Oceania, Abel Tasman's contribution to geography can hardly be overestimated. His works contributed to a significant enrichment of the geographical maps of that time, so Tasman is considered one of the most significant discoverers of the 17th century.

IN state archive The Netherlands, located in The Hague, contains the most valuable diary for history, which Tasman himself filled out during one of the expeditions. It contains a mass of all kinds of information, as well as drawings that testify to the sailor's exceptional artistic talent. The full text of this diary was first published in 1860 by Tasman's compatriot Jacob Schwartz. Unfortunately, scientists have not yet been able to find the original ship logs from those ships that Tasman sailed on.

Tasmania is far from the only geographical feature that bears the name of its famous discoverer. From what is named after Abel Tasman, one can distinguish the sea located between Australia and New Zealand, as well as the group small islands located in the Pacific Ocean.

Abel Tasman short biography And Interesting Facts from life famous traveler outlined in this article.

Abel Tasman short biography

The future traveler was born in the village of Lütjegast, the Netherlands. After his marriage, he began to serve in the Navy. In 1634, he was hired as a skipper on a merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company, who was researching the prospects for trade relations in the Malaysian islands. Further information indicates that in 1638 Abel Tasman received the post of captain of a merchant ship.

The first expedition of Abel Tasman took place in 1639. Its goal is to find out the prospects for trade relations with the island territories of eastern Japan. This campaign lasted six months, and was unsuccessful - half of the sailors died of scurvy, typhoons and storms pretty battered sailboats. The rest of the crew stopped to rest and resupply on the island of Formosa. But the traveler Abel Tasman reached the Kuril Islands and put them on the map. The second time he took part in the expedition, which consisted of 11 ships that pursued the same goals. The only difference is that this time everything went well: the team entered Japanese port Hirado after spending 3 months here.

But the main significance of the discovery of Abel Tasman is quite different. Swimming in southeastern regions In the Pacific Ocean on two ships supplied by the East India Company, in the period 1642-1644, the traveler had to find and explore the mysterious Terra Australis Incognita - a white spot on the general map of the world.

In what year did Abel Tasman discover Australia?

In 1642, the navigator found an island, which he named Van Diemen's land: in honor of the governor of the East Indies. Today it is called Tasmania. Moving east, the expedition reached the South Island, meeting here for the first time with the local inhabitants of New Zealand, the Maori tribes. After they discovered another New Zealand island, North, the archipelagos of Tonga and Fiji. In 1643, the ships rounded the northern part of New Guinea and returned to Batavia for provisions.

In 1644, with new forces, Tasman explored in detail the northern part of the coast of Australia. After the end of the expedition, the navigator was awarded the rank of commander, and he took up trading business, living in Batavia, where he died in 1651.

Abel Tasman interesting facts

• There are no documents that tell about his birthday or parents, they have not been preserved. The first documentary record of his life dates back to 1631, when he married a second time after the death of the navigator's first wife.
• It can be assumed that he was of a noble family. Since his wife was illiterate, belonged to an humble family, which means that only a person of the appropriate status could take her as a wife.
• The second sea voyage could have ended very sadly for Abel Tasman. An expedition of 11 ships was caught in a typhoon. Only one flagship survived, and that was badly damaged. It would seem that the sailors are doomed to death. But they were picked up by a Dutch ship, which noticed the flagship wandering along the waves.
• There is information that Governor Van Diemen sent Tasman on an expedition to discover the mysterious South Land on 2 destroyed ships with a rotten deck. The reason for such a “kind gesture” was Abel’s romantic relationship with a relative of the governor, Maria. The brave traveler named a New Zealand cape in her honor.
• Tasman was known as a fair and reasonable person.

Abel Jansson Tasman (born around 1603 - death October 10, 1659) - a famous Dutch navigator, explorer and merchant who discovered New Zealand, Tasmania, the islands of Tonga, Fiji, the Bismarck archipelago, etc. In addition to the island of Tasmania, they are named after him sea ​​between Australia and New Zealand, a group of small islands north of about. Ontong Java.

Early years. What is known

The name of Abel Tasman, the legendary discoverer of New Zealand, is quite widely known, but almost no documents have been preserved that shed light on his biography, only a sailing diary of 1642-1643 written by him. and individual letters. The place of birth, the village of Lütgegast in the Dutch province of Groningen, became known only in 1845, when Tasman's will, which he made two years before his death, was found in the Dutch archives. It is not known who the sailor's parents were. We know only the name of the father, since the second name of Tasman Janszon means "son of Jans." There is no information where Tasman was educated and how he became a sailor. It is only known that until the age of 30 he was a sailor and sailed on merchant ships in European waters.

Looking for legendary islands

1633 - he moves to the Netherlands East Indies, where he becomes a skipper on the ships of the East India Company. 1639 - Tasman takes part in an expedition sent in search of the legendary islands of Rica de Oro and Rica de Plata, which abounded in gold and silver. These islands were allegedly found by the Spaniards in 1583 to the east of Japan. The search turned out to be fruitless, but on this and other voyages, Tasman was able to gain extensive experience in navigation in the Asian seas.

Tasman with his wife and daughter

New voyages

Governor General Anton Van Diemen, in 1640–1642 more than once sent the captain with various assignments to Japan, Cambodia, China and other countries of South and East Asia. On an expedition to Taiwan, Tasman miraculously survived: during a strong typhoon, all the ships of his flotilla sank, only the flagship could survive.

In an effort to expand its influence, the Dutch East India Company consistently organized expeditions to discover new lands. 1642 - Van Diemen sent another expedition to the still unexplored southern part of the Indian Ocean in order to find sea routes to avoid meeting with Portuguese warships.

Discovery of Tasmania

The head of the expedition, which consisted of two ships of the East India Company, which left Batavia on August 14, 1642, was appointed Abel Tasman, who was considered perhaps the best captain in the Dutch East Indies. The 60-ton flagship was named Hemsmerk. He was accompanied by a three-masted Zeehan vessel with a displacement of 100 tons. 110 people took part in the expedition.

During this voyage, on November 24, 1642, Tasman discovered a vast land (Tasmania) off the coast of Australia, which he named Van Diemen's Land in honor of the governor.

Discovery of New Zealand

Continuing the voyage, after some time, the sailors discovered another land. It was the west coast of a large island, which later became known as New Zealand.

Having found shelter in the bay, now known as Golden Bay, the sailors decided to replenish their water supplies. When they landed, they met native Maori, tall, with a swarthy yellow complexion, at first glance friendly. But the very next day, the very first sailors who stepped ashore were attacked. Three sailors were killed, and the rest were barely able to escape with the support of the boats that arrived in time from the ships.

Abel Tasman later called Golden Bay "Killer's Bay". He weighed anchor and headed further along the shore. The cape that ended the island, he called Cape Maria Van Diemen.

After surveying part of the coast of New Zealand, Tasman decided to return. The ships moved north and along the way they discovered a group of Fiji islands, the islands of New Ireland and New Britain, the Tonga archipelago, etc. It should be noted that the next time Europeans appeared here only after 130 years. The expedition testified that the people of Tonga still remembered visiting the Dutch.

After a 10-month voyage on June 15, 1643, the ships safely entered the port of Batavia. The officers were given a 2-month salary in the form of a bonus, the sailors - a month.

First meeting with the Maori. Drawing from the travel journal of Abel Tasman (1642)

Exploring the north coast of Australia

In the same year, 1643, Abel Tasman led an expedition of three ships of the East India Company that sailed along the western coast of New Guinea and the northern coast of Australia. As a result, a significant part of the coast of northern Australia was mapped for the first time.

Very little is known about this voyage, mainly from a single letter from the governor-general of the East India Company and Tasman maps. Not discovering the Strait discovered by Torres, the existence of which the Dutch did not know at that time, Abel decided that all the lands he discovered were one. However, he did survey 3,500 km of the northern coast of Australia, which in those days was called New Holland. Abel Tasman proved with his swimming that this is the mainland.

1644, August 4 - all three ships of the expedition returned to Batavia. Despite the fact that this expedition did not bring material benefits to the company, Tasman's merits as a sailor were not questioned. 1645, May 4 - he was promoted to the rank of commander and he was appointed a member of the council of justice of Batavia.

Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand

More expeditions. Last years. Death

The high position did not force Abel Tasman to give up swimming. In 1645-1646 he went to the Malay Archipelago for military, hydrographic and commercial purposes, in 1647 he was in Siam (Thailand), in 1648-1649 - in the Philippines. 1653 - Abel retired and lived a quiet and peaceful life in Batavia for several years. It is known that he was married a second time, but who his wife was remains unknown. Tasman died in 1659 at the age of 56.

Heritage

His voyages were the first large expeditions to the waters of Australia and Oceania. Their results put the Dutch navigator among the great travelers of the 17th century, who significantly enriched geographic Maps of that era.

The manuscript of Tasman's diary, highly valuable for history, is kept in the State Archives in The Hague. The archives of Holland and England are proud of its two abridged copies. The originals of the ship's logs, which are of exceptional interest to science, have not been found to this day.

The full text of the diary was first published in 1860 by the Dutchman Jacob Schwartz. The diary is supplemented by magnificent drawings made by Tasman himself, by which one can judge the extraordinary artistic abilities.

Abel Janszon Tasman was born in the village of Lütjegast, near the city of Groningen, in 1603 (the exact date of birth remains unknown). The navigator was of humble origin. Before entering the service in the East India Company of the Netherlands, there is practically no information about him. Church documents recorded that in 1631 Tasman married a second time to a girl from a poor and illiterate family.

From sailor to skipper

At about 30 years old, Tasman became a sailor on one of the ships of the East India Company. This organization, which was engaged in trade in goods from distant eastern countries, gave Abel the opportunity to make a brilliant career. Already in 1634, the sailor became a skipper (in other words, a captain on a commercial ship).

Like other employees of the company, Tasman served the transportation of spices and spices, which were the most valuable goods on the European market. He traveled regularly on the Brouwer route - sea ​​route, which began at the Cape of Good Hope and ended in Java, which belonged to the Netherlands. The skipper had to command the ships in the conditions of frequent storms that traditionally occurred between 40 and 50 degrees south latitude (this space was called by sailors the Roaring Forties). The regular storms were due to strong winds - the same winds that allowed the Dutch to quickly get to Java and back.

Continuing a career

The first time Tasman took the route of Brouwer was in 1633, when he sailed from the Dutch island of Texel to Batavia. That was the name of modern Jakarta then. Then he went to the Malay island of Seram. Abel almost died there. The Dutch had a conflict with the locals, which resulted in the murder of several companions of the navigator.

In 1937 Tasman returned to Amsterdam. At home, he signed a new contract with the East India Company for a period of ten years. Taking his wife with him, the skipper finally moved to Batavia. In 1638, the Dutchman went on a trip to India. A year later, he participated in a research expedition, the purpose of which was Northern part Pacific Ocean. Tasman visited Formosa (modern Taiwan, where the Dutch for some time owned several forts) and Dejima, a Japanese trading port built on an artificial island.

Bonin detection

Abel Tasman became widely known in 1639. Sailing from Batavia, he passed by Philippine Islands and, together with Captain Mattis Quast, discovered the island of Bonin, about which there were only legends before. The initiator of the Tasman voyage was Anthony van Diemen, the governor of the Netherlands East Indies. According to legend, he entrusted the skipper with this mission so that he would be as far as possible from his daughter, with whom Abel was in love. end point travel again became Japan, where the navigator stopped in Tokyo, after which he returned back to Batavia.

Discovery of Tasmania and New Zealand

Van Diemen was extremely pleased with the results of the 1639 expedition. Soon Abel Tasman went on a new journey. This time he had to go beyond the traditional trade routes and head to New Holland (Australia) in order to determine if it is connected to New Guinea.

On August 14, 1642, Abel Tasman sailed again from Batavia. Under his leadership were two ships. Three weeks later, the expedition reached Mascarene Islands. The "southern mainland", to which she was heading, at that time was the source of the most incredible rumors and conflicting information.

On November 24, Abel Tasman made perhaps his most important discovery. His ships approached big island, immediately named Van Diemen's Land (after the governor of the Netherlands East Indies, who patronized the expedition). Today it is known as Tasmania. This name was given to the island in 1856.

Having landed on the eastern coast of the island, the Dutch realized that Van Diemen's land was inhabited. The sailors, afraid that giants might live in the jungle, refused to go deep into the forests. Then Abel Tasman returned to the sea and went further east. On December 13, the outlines of another unknown island. The navigator mistook it for part of the land discovered by Schouten and Le Mer near Cape Horn. In reality it was south island- one of two largest islands New Zealand.

Skirmish with Maori

On December 18, 1642, Tasman's ships entered the discovered convenient bay and anchored. The ships immediately attracted the attention of the natives. They had never seen European ships before and dared not approach strangers closer than stone throwing distance. They were Maori - tall and dark-skinned people of New Zealand.

Abel Tasman, whose travels had previously taken him to the natives of distant lands, decided to send a boat with sailors to them. The Maori became furious and killed three Dutchmen. The rest of the sailors threw themselves into the sea and were rescued by boats that came to the rescue. The natives managed to hide in the jungle, and the team never avenged them for the death of their comrades. The place of death of the three Dutchmen for a long time became known as the Bay of Killers (today it is Golden Bay - Golden Bay).

On the islands of Tonga

After the incident with the Maori, Abel Tasman, whose biography is best known for this particular trip, headed north without losing sight of the New Zealand coast. The South Island was replaced by the North. Having reached its tip, the Dutch did not go around this new land and continued on towards the ocean.

On January 21, 1643, Abel Tasman, whose discoveries had not yet ended, was the first European to reach the islands of Tonga. They received Dutch names: Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Middelburg. Here the sailors obtained new provisions: chickens, pigs and fruits. On February 6, the Fiji archipelago was discovered, then named after Prince Wilhelm. Passing by, Tasman's ships were nearly wrecked by dangerous reefs on the northeast side of these islands. Local residents were in a state of primitive society. The population practiced ritual cannibalism and was not hospitable.

Return to Batavia

After Fiji, the Tasman ships approached New Guinea and visited places explored by Schouten and Le Mer. All the numerous small islands that the Dutch met on their way were mapped by the expedition's navigator Frans Wisker.

On June 15, the expedition, led by Abel Tasman, returned to Batavia. Today, its results are considered historical. However, in the 17th century, New Zealand and other open lands did not interest the leadership of the Netherlands East Indies. The researcher did not achieve all the goals set. First of all, he did not find the mysterious southern continent - Antarctica. Abel Tasman (whose years of life - 1603-1659) until his death considered New Zealand discovered by him to be part of this mysterious land.

new journey

In January 1644 Tasman's second and last major expedition to the southeast began. This time, three Dutch ships rounded New Guinea from the south and headed towards the northern coast of Australia. Here they were waiting for the waters of the vast Gulf of Carpentaria, which flows into the mainland for as much as 600 kilometers. Willem Janson was the first European to visit it in 1606, but this region still remained little explored. Tasman got there because he missed the Torres Strait that separates Australia from New Guinea. The Dutch were hampered by reefs, which forced them to correct the course, first to the south, and then to the west. The expedition returned to Batavia in August 1644.

This was the end of Tasman's activities as a discoverer. He was appointed to the Legal Council of Batavia and made commander. In 1647, the authorities sent Tasman to Siam as a diplomat to establish contacts with the king of this eastern country. A little later, the captain began to command a detachment of ships during the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.

Navigator's legacy

Tasman retired in 1651. Even historians have not been able to reconstruct the events of the late stage of his life. It is only known that the navigator died in Batavia in 1659 at the age of 56.

Everything that was named after Abel Tasman (the island, the sea and the basin) was named after his death. Contemporaries considered his expeditions unsuccessful. The East India Campaign never succeeded in discovering new areas suitable for trade. For almost a hundred years, Europeans did not return to the development of New Zealand. Everything changed after the expeditions of the British James Cook. In the XVIII and XIX centuries. justice was restored in relation to such a researcher as Abel Tasman. New Zealand, for example, today has a National Park, a lake and a bay named after him.