What did the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discover? The contribution of Abel Tasman to geography

Tasman Abel Jansson, the famous Dutch navigator, the discoverer of New Zealand, the archipelago of Fiji and Bismarck, and many other small islands. His name is the island of Tasmania, located south of Australia, which was first visited by Abel Tasman. What else this famous traveler discovered , and also where he visited - read about this in this material.

The mystery of the origin of the seafarer

In fact, not much is known about Abel Tasman, at least in the possession of historians there are too few documents that could shed light on his biography. Among the available sources is a navigation diary of 1642-1643, written by his hand, as well as some of his letters. As for the date of birth of the seafarer, it is known only a year - 1603. The place of birth of Tasman became known only in 1845, when the Dutch archives found a will made in 1657 - presumably this village of Lütgegast, located in the Dutch province of Groningen.

Also little is known about the sailor's parents, except that his father, presumably, was called Jansom, because the second name of Abel Jansson is "son of Jans". Where Tasman was educated, how he became a sailor - there is also no information about this. Probably before he was thirty, he did not hold high posts, and Abel Tasman's voyages were mostly limited to European waters.

Moving to the Dutch East India

In 1633 (according to another version - in 1634) the Dutch sailor left Europe and went to East India, which was then a colony of Holland. There Abel Tasman served as a skipper on the ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company, gained experience and quite well proved himself, since already in 1638 he was appointed captain of the vessel "Angel".

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

In search of treasure

Among the Spanish and Dutch navigators have long been legendary about some mysterious islands rich in precious metals Rico de Plata and Rico de Oro, which means "rich in silver" and "rich in gold," supposedly located in the ocean east of Japan. Anthony van Diemen, the then Governor-General of East India, intended to find these islands. On their search, two ships were equipped, the total crew of which was 90 people. The Graft ship was headed by Abel Tasman.

On June 2, 1639, the ships left the harbor in Batavia and headed toward Japan. In addition to the main task, the expedition had secondary tasks. So, in the Philippine Islands, work was done to refine the map of the region, in addition, the Mariners were lucky enough to open several new islands from the Bonin archipelago. They were also ordered to conduct barter trade with the indigenous population of those places that they would have to visit. They continued to swim 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, were in endless voyages, and this time did not waste time, on the way back continuing to conduct studies of the sea spaces.

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 remained alive from his team, and the cargo of the imported goods did not satisfy Van Diemen very well, because mysterious islands rich in treasures could not be found. Nevertheless, the Governor-General could not fail to assess Abel Tasman's ability, and from that time on he repeatedly sent it to 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 steering wheel were broken, and the hold was flooded with water. But fate sent a sailor a rescue in the form of a Dutch ship passing by by chance.

Preparation of a new serious expedition

The Dutch East India Company to periodically expand its influence periodically organized new expeditions. In this regard, Governor-General van Diemen in 1642 equipped another expedition, the purpose of which was to study the southern part of the Indian Ocean and find new sea routes. The task was to find the Solomon Islands, after which it was necessary to sail to the east 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 Jansson at the beginning of the XVII 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 head of the expedition so important for the company. What did he discover during this voyage? Tasman wrote about this in detail in his diary.

Discovering Tasmania

In the expedition, on August 14, 1642, came out of Batavia, 110 people took part. The team was to sail on two ships: the flagship "Hemsmerche" and three-mast "Seehana" displacement of 60 and 100 tons respectively. According to Tasman's testimony, the ships on which the sailors were to travel were far from in the best condition, so he realized that on these ships it is unlikely 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 east of Africa, thence turned to the south-east, and then, reaching 49 ° south latitude, headed east. So he reached the shores of the island, which was later named after his discoverer - Tasmania, but the Dutch sailor himself called it Van Diemen's Land, in honor of the governor of the colonies of East India.

Continuation of swimming and new accomplishments

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

Tasman sent the expedition ships to the north. On the way back he had the opportunity to discover many new islands, including the islands of Fiji. By the way, European seafarers appeared here only 130 years later. It is interesting that Tasman swam relatively near the Solomon Islands, which he was ordered to find, but because of poor visibility the expedition did not notice them.

Return to Batavia. Preparation of the next expedition

The ships "Hemsmerc" 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 not everything was lost, and was already thinking about sending a new expedition.

This time he was interested in New Guinea, which, he believed, was worth exploring more thoroughly for useful resources. The governor also intended to establish a route between New Guinea and the newly discovered Van Diemen Land, so he immediately began organizing a new expedition, which Tasman appointed the head.

A study of the northern coast of Australia

Little is known about this voyage of the Dutch navigator, for the only sources that testify to him are the letter of Van Diemen addressed to the East India Company, and, in fact, the maps compiled by Tasman. The navigator managed to draw a detailed map of more than three and a half thousand kilometers 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 make 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 continent, for which in May 1645 he was awarded the rank of commander. In addition, he received a high post and joined the council of justice of Batavia.

Incorrigible traveler

Despite the new position Tasman took, as well as the duties and responsibilities assigned to him, he still periodically set out on long voyages. So, in 1645-1646 years. 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, resigned in 1653. He stayed to live in Batavia, where he married for the second time, but his second wife also knows nothing, as well as about the first. Having lived a quiet and peaceful life until the age of 56, Tasman died in 1659.

The case that occurred during one of the many voyages

In Tasman's diary there are a lot of various records that tell about the course of the expedition of 1642-1643, in which the Dutch traveler was able to participate. One of the stories he recorded, tells of an incident that occurred on some small island, which had to visit the Mariners.

It so happened that some native put an arrow in the direction of the arrivals and wounded one of the sailors. Local residents, perhaps, frightened by the anger of people on ships, led the culprit to the ship and gave it to the aliens. Probably, they assumed that the sailors would be punished with their guilty fellow tribesman, however, most of Tasman's contemporaries, most likely, would have done so. But Abel Tasman turned out to be a compassionate man, who had no sense of justice, so he let his prisoner go.

As you know, the seamen, who were subordinate to Tasman, respected and appreciated him and this is not surprising, because from this story with the guilty native one can conclude that he was a worthy person. In addition, he was an experienced navigator and a professional in his field, so the seamen fully trusted him.

Conclusion

Since the expeditions of the Dutch navigator are the first major study of the waters of Australia and Oceania, Abel Tasman's contribution to geography is difficult to overestimate. His works contributed to a significant enrichment of the geographical maps of the time, so Tasman is considered one of the most significant pioneers of the XVII century.

The state archive of the Netherlands, located in The Hague, holds a most valuable diary for history, which Tasman personally filled during one of the expeditions. In it there is a mass of all kinds of information, as well as drawings that show 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 originals of the ship's magazines from those ships on which Tasman was sailing.

Tasmania is not the only geographical object that bears the name of its famous pioneer. From what is named after Abel Tasman, it is possible to distinguish the sea located between Australia and New Zealand, as well as a group of small islands located in the Pacific Ocean.