Abel Tasman

He married Jannetje (Joanna) Tjaerts in 1632.

He died on 10 October 1659, from unknown causes, at his home in Batavia.

Abel Tasman was born in the village of Lutjegast in The Netherlands, in 1603, in a family of subsistence farmers.

The Dutch Republic that was in power during the 17th century promoted progressive education and it is largely assumed that Tasman greatly benefitted from this program. He had good writing skills and had excellent knowledge of Latin.

Abel Tasman joined the Dutch East India Company and on his first assignment, he was sent to Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) in 1633.

In 1634, he was promoted to the rank of first mate of the ship, ‘Weesp’, and soon thereafter he became skipper of the ship ‘Mocha’.

He spent nine years guarding the South Pacific from pirates and smugglers. He also made several trade missions to Asia, including Japan, Cambodia, and Formosa (present-day Taiwan).

In 1642, he was commissioned to lead an expedition to present-day Australia and South America in search for an ocean passage across the Pacific to Chile. He was provided with two small ships for this voyage, the Zeehaen and the Heemskerck.

The expedition sailed to Mauritius and then headed east at higher latitude than the Dutch had explored ever before, which caused them to bypass their destination of Australia. A land mass was spotted on November 24, 1642 and Tasman named it ‘Anthoni van Diemens Landt’ (modern-day Tasmania) after Batavia’s Governor General.

Tasman was the first European explorer to discover New Zealand and Tasmania, both of which were explored during his 1642 voyage.

He mapped a significant amount of Australia’s northern coast during his 1644 exploration.