Changes

After a short return to his trading duties, in 1642 he was commissioned to search for the “Great South Land”. (Increasingly, the west and parts of the northern coasts of the continent of [[Australia]], named by the Dutch, [[New Holland]] had been visited by Dutch ships since the first decade of the century; but Van Diemen, with an eye to an extension of the Dutch Empire into the south seas, was eager to discover the extent of any lands in the temperate regions.) With two ships, the ''Heemskerck'' and the ''Zeehaen'', he sailed to [[Mauritius]] in the [[Indian Ocean]], then went south in search of the [[Roaring Forties]], that latitude of prevailing gales the Dutch had used to cross the Indian Ocean since their first forays into the East Indies.  

After a short return to his trading duties, in 1642 he was commissioned to search for the “Great South Land”. (Increasingly, the west and parts of the northern coasts of the continent of [[Australia]], named by the Dutch, [[New Holland]] had been visited by Dutch ships since the first decade of the century; but Van Diemen, with an eye to an extension of the Dutch Empire into the south seas, was eager to discover the extent of any lands in the temperate regions.) With two ships, the ''Heemskerck'' and the ''Zeehaen'', he sailed to [[Mauritius]] in the [[Indian Ocean]], then went south in search of the [[Roaring Forties]], that latitude of prevailing gales the Dutch had used to cross the Indian Ocean since their first forays into the East Indies.  

In November 1642 Tasman came across the west coast of what he named [[Van Diemen’s Land]], now Tasmania. He sailed around the south of the island and partly up the east coast, then assuming that it was part of the Australian mainland he, headed west again, heading for the [[Solomon Islands]] in a roundabout way. Eight days later, he arrived off the South Island of [[New Zealand]], which he thought was the western extremity of a continent stretching from south of [[Tierra del Fuego]].  After a misunderstanding with the local Ngati Tumatakokiri people resulted in a fight in which four Dutchmen and one Maori died, he proceeded up the west coasts of both islands, (missing Cook Strait between them) and headed northeast without landing.<ref>Michael King. ''The Penguin History of New Zealand''; Penguin Books; Auckland. p. 97, (2003)</ref>  

In November 1642 Tasman came across the west coast of what he named [[Van Diemen's Land]], now Tasmania. He sailed around the south of the island and partly up the east coast, then assuming that it was part of the Australian mainland he, headed west again, heading for the [[Solomon Islands]] in a roundabout way. Eight days later, he arrived off the South Island of [[New Zealand]], which he thought was the western extremity of a continent stretching from south of [[Tierra del Fuego]].  After a misunderstanding with the local Ngati Tumatakokiri people resulted in a fight in which four Dutchmen and one Maori died, he proceeded up the west coasts of both islands, (missing Cook Strait between them) and headed northeast without landing.<ref>Michael King. ''The Penguin History of New Zealand''; Penguin Books; Auckland. p. 97, (2003)</ref>  

He returned to Batavia in the [[East Indies]] (Djakarta in [[Indonesia]]) in a great arc out over the western Pacific, discovering parts of the [[Tonga]]n and [[Fiji]]an archipelagos, passing [[New Hebrides]] and the Solomon Islands and the top of [[New Guinea]]. He had been away 10 months.

He returned to Batavia in the [[East Indies]] (Djakarta in [[Indonesia]]) in a great arc out over the western Pacific, discovering parts of the [[Tonga]]n and [[Fiji]]an archipelagos, passing [[New Hebrides]] and the Solomon Islands and the top of [[New Guinea]]. He had been away 10 months.