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'''Abel''' Janszoon '''Tasman''' (c.1603-1659), Dutch navigator, is known for his discovery of New Zealand and Tasmania.

'''Abel''' Janszoon '''Tasman''' (c.1603-1659), Dutch navigator, is known for his discovery of New Zealand and Tasmania.

As master of one of the [[Dutch East Indian Company]]’s merchant ships, he came to the attention of the [[governor-general]] of the [[Dutch East Indies]], Antony [[van Diemen]], who sent him on a number of voyages of discovery. In the first of these (1634), he opened up a route from the [[Spice Islands]] into the [[Pacific]] via a passage north of [[Ceram]]. In 1639 he led an expedition to the northern Pacific in a fruitless search for fabled islands of immense wealth supposedly lying east of [[Japan]]. The voyage is no less important for its discovery of only emptiness in that part of the ocean.

As master of one of the [[Dutch East India Company]]’s merchant ships, he came to the attention of the [[governor-general]] of the [[Dutch East Indies]], Antony [[van Diemen]], who sent him on a number of voyages of discovery. In the first of these (1634), he opened up a route from the [[Spice Islands]] into the [[Pacific]] via a passage north of [[Ceram]]. In 1639 he led an expedition to the northern Pacific in a fruitless search for fabled islands of immense wealth supposedly lying east of [[Japan]]. The voyage is no less important for its discovery of only emptiness in that part of the ocean.

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, 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, 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.