Tasman Abel Janszon, famous Dutch navigator, discoverer of New Zealand, the Fiji and Bismarck archipelagos, as well as many other small islands. The island of Tasmania, located south of Australia, is named after him, which was the very first to be visited by Abel Tasman. What else this famous traveler discovered, as well as 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 a villageLutgegast, located in the Dutch province of Groningen.
Also, little is known about the sailor's parents, except that his father's name was presumably Jans, because the second name of Abel Janszoon means "son of Jans". Where Tasman was educated, how he became a sailor - there is also no information about this. He probably did not hold high positions before he was thirty years old, 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) a Dutch sailor left Europe and went to the East Indies, which at that time was a colony of Holland. There, 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.
Treasure Hunt
Among Spanish and Dutch navigators, 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 GeneralEast India, intended to find these islands. Two vessels were equipped to search for them, the total crew of which was 90 people. The Graft was led 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. So, in the Philippine Islands, work was carried out to refine the map of 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. The journey of Abel Tasman 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 the 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 another expedition to Taiwan, the flotilla was overtaken by a strong typhoon that 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 salvation to the sailor in the form of a Dutch ship accidentally sailing 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 set to find the Solomon Islands, after which it was necessary to sail eastward in search of the best route to 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.
Discovering Tasmania
110 people took part in the expedition, which left Batavia on August 14, 1642. The team was supposed to set sail on two ships: the flagship Hemsmerke and the three-masted Seehan with a displacement of 60 and 100tons, 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 he turned southeast, and then, having reached 49 ° south latitude, headed 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.
Continuation of 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 of Latin America). The 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 the Fiji Islands. By the way, European navigators appeared here only 130 years later. Interesting that the Tasman sailedrelatively 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 Seehan 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 management 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 New Guinea, which, as he believed, should be explored more thoroughly for 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 Australia's North Coast
Little is known about this voyage of the Dutch navigator, because the only sources that testify 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 draw up a detailed map of 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 August 4, 1644. Although the East India Company did not receive any profit this time either, 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 he sailed to Siam (now Thailand), and in 1648–1649 to the Philippines.
Abel Tasman, whose biography is full of all sorts of adventures, retired 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. The locals mayfrightened by the wrath of the people on the ships, they 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 in his field, 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 work 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.
The state archive of 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 still do notmanaged to find the original ship's logs from those ships on which Tasman sailed.
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 single out the sea located between Australia and New Zealand, as well as a group of small islands located in the Pacific Ocean.
