Tasman Abel Janszon, the famous Dutch navigator, the discoverer of New Zealand, the archipelagos of Fiji and Bismarck, as well as many other small islands. His name is called the island of Tasmania, located south of Australia, which Abel Tasman was the first to visit. What else has this famous traveler discovered , as well as where he has been - read about this in this article.
The mystery of the origin of the navigator
In fact, not much is known about Abel Tasman, at least historians have too few documents at their disposal that could shed light on his biography. Among the available sources there is a swimming diary of 1642–1643, written by his hand, as well as some of his letters. As for the seafarer's birthdate, only a year is known - 1603. The birthplace of Tasman became known only in 1845, when a will was found in the Dutch archives, compiled by him in 1657 - presumably this is the village of Lutgegast, located in the Dutch province of Groningen.
Little is known about the seaman’s parents, except that his father was allegedly called Jans, as Abel Janszon’s middle name means “son of Jans”. Where Tasman was educated, how he became a sailor - there is also no information about this. Probably, before he was thirty years old, he did not hold high posts, and Abel Tasman's voyages were mainly limited to European waters.
Relocation to Dutch East India
In 1633 (according to another version - in 1634), the Dutch sailor left Europe and went to East India, which at that time was a Dutch colony. There, Abel Tasman served as a skipper on ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company, gained experience and proved to be quite good, since already in 1638 he was appointed captain of the ship 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 lived for many years with her father in Batavia (now Jakarta), and then got married and left for Europe.
Searching for treasures
Among the Spanish and Dutch sailors there have long been legends about some mysterious, precious metals rich islands of 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, then Governor General of East India, intended to find these islands. Two ships were equipped in their search, the total number of crew of which was 90 people. The ship Graft was led by Abel Tasman.
On June 2, 1639, the ships left the harbor in Batavia and headed for 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 this region, in addition, sailors were lucky to discover several new islands from the Bonin archipelago. They were also ordered to trade with the indigenous people of the places that 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, and this time did not lose time in vain, on the way back he continued to conduct studies of the sea.
New voyages - new dangers
The expedition returned to Batavia on February 19, 1640. The trip of Abel Tasman was not entirely successful, since only seven people were left alive from his team, and van Dymen did not satisfy the load of the goods brought in, because the mysterious islands rich in treasures could not be found. Nevertheless, the Governor General could not but evaluate the abilities of Abel Tasman, and since then he has repeatedly sent him to various voyages.
During the next expedition to Taiwan, a strong typhoon overtook the flotilla, sunk 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 the sailor salvation 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 in 1642 equipped the next expedition, the purpose of which was to explore the southern 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 optimal route to Chile. In addition, it was necessary to find out the shape of the southern land, which was discovered by the traveler Willem Janszon at the beginning of the XVII century.
At that time, the Dutch navigator was considered almost the most skilled navigator of East India, so it is not surprising that Abel Tasman was appointed the 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.
Discovery of Tasmania
The expedition, which left Batavia on August 14, 1642, was attended by 110 people. The team was to set sail on two ships: the flagship Hemsmerke and the three-masted Seehan with a displacement of 60 and 100 tons, respectively. According to Tasman, the ships on which the sailors were supposed to travel 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 headed to the island of Mauritius, which is located east of Africa, from there turned southeast, and then, reaching 49 ° south latitude, headed east. So he reached the coast of the island, which was later named after his discoverer - Tasmania, but the Dutch sailor himself called it Van Dimen Land, in honor of the governor of the colonies of East India.
Continued swimming and new achievements
The expedition continued its voyage and, moving eastward, circled the newly discovered land along the southern coast. So Abel Tasman reached the west coast of New Zealand, which he then mistook for the Land of the States (now the island of Estados, located at the southern tip of Latin America). Travelers partially examined the coast of New Zealand and after the captain found out that the lands he discovered were not the Solomon Islands, he decided to return to Batavia.
Tasman sent the expedition ships north. On the way back, he happened to discover many new islands, including Fiji. By the way, European sailors appeared here only after 130 years. Interestingly, Tasman sailed relatively 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. Preparation of 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 complete all the tasks assigned to him, the leadership of the East India Company as a whole was dissatisfied with the swimming results provided by Abel Tasman. The discovery of the Van Diemen Land, however, pleased the governor, who was enthusiastic, believed that not everything was lost, and was already considering sending a new expedition.
This time he was interested in New Guinea, which, he believed, should be investigated more thoroughly for useful resources. The governor also intended to establish a route between New Guinea and the newly discovered Van Dimen Land, so he immediately set about organizing a new expedition led by Tasman.
Exploration of Australia's North Coast
Little is known about this voyage of the Dutch seafarer, because the only sources testifying to it are the van Diemen's letter addressed to the East India Company, and, in fact, the maps compiled by Tasman. The seafarer managed to draw up a detailed map of more than three and a half thousand kilometers of the northern coast of Australia, and this served as evidence 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 mainland, for which in May 1645 he was awarded the rank of commander. 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 a long voyage. So, in 1645–1646. he participated in an expedition to the Malay archipelago, in 1647 sailed to Siam (now Thailand), and from 1648–1649 to the Philippines.
Abel Tasman, whose biography is full of all kinds of adventures, resigned in 1653. He stayed to live in Batavia, where he married a second time, but his second wife is also not known, as well as the first. Having lived a quiet and peaceful life until the age of 56, Tasman died in 1659.
An accident that occurred during one of the many voyages
In Tasman’s diary there are a lot of various records telling about the course of the expedition 1642-1643, in which the Dutch traveler happened to participate. One of the stories recorded by him tells about the incident that occurred on some small island on which sailors had to visit.
It so happened that some natives fired an arrow in the direction of the arrivals and wounded one of the sailors. Local residents, perhaps frightened by the anger of people on the ships, brought the culprit to the ship and placed the aliens at their disposal. They probably assumed that the sailors would deal with their guilty tribesman, however, most of Tasman's contemporaries would most likely do so. But Abel Tasman turned out to be a compassionate man who was not alien to the sense of justice, so he released his captive.
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 guilty native he can be concluded that he was a worthy person. In addition, he was an experienced navigator and a professional in his field, so the sailors fully trusted him.
Conclusion
Since the expeditions of the Dutch navigator are the first major study of the waters of Australia and Oceania, the contribution of Abel Tasman to geography is difficult to overestimate. His works contributed to a significant enrichment of geographical maps of the time, so Tasman is considered one of the most significant pioneers of the XVII century.
The Netherlands State Archives, located in The Hague, contains a valuable diary for history, which Tasman personally filled during one of the expeditions. It contains a lot of all kinds of information, as well as drawings that indicate the presence of the sailor's exceptional artistic talent. The full text of this diary was first published in 1860 by compatriot Tasman Jacob Schwartz. Unfortunately, scientists have still not been able to find the originals of ship's magazines from the ships on which Tasman sailed.
Tasmania is far from the only geographical object that bears the name of its famous discoverer. From what is named after Abel Tasman, one can distinguish the sea located between Australia and New Zealand, as well as a group of small islands located in the Pacific Ocean.