Abel Janszoon Tasman

Dutch explorer

• Born: c. 1603
• Birthplace: Lutjegast, Groningen, United Provinces (now in the Netherlands)
• Died: 1659
• Place of death: Unknown

Tasman was a navigator who discovered for the Dutch the countries now known as New Zealand, Australia, Tonga, and the Fiji Islands. The Australian island-state of Tasmania bears his name.

Early Life

Abel Janszoon Tasman (AHB-ehl YAHNTS-sohn TAHS-mahn) was born around 1603. Little is known about his early life except that in 1632 he entered the services of the Dutch East India Company . In the early 1600’s, the Dutch were replacing the Portuguese as the most powerful European influence in Asia. The East India Company was established as a monopoly that would control the enormously successful spice trade, mainly in pepper, from the East. The center of the company’s operations was in the city of Jakarta, which the Dutch called Batavia, on the island of Java.

During his first ten years as a company employee, Tasman became familiar with the trade routes from Holland to India and then to the islands that make up modern Indonesia. He had led one expedition a thousand miles beyond the limits reached by any previous navigator in the cold and stormy northern parts of the Pacific Ocean. In 1642, he was chosen to lead a voyage in search of the “Great Unknown Southern Continent,” or the Terra Australia Incognita. Many mapmakers and geographers of the time had proposed the existence of a huge, undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, the existence of which they considered necessary to balance the large continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Tasman was instructed to find and map this missing continent.

Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer, had been the first European to enter the Pacific in 1519. The Portuguese were the first to build a colonial empire in southeast Asia and the Pacific, but they were quickly challenged by Spanish expeditions coming from Mexico and Peru. Spanish explorers sighted New Guinea in 1528 and began colonizing the Philippines in the 1560’s. These expeditions were looking for gold and silver to add to the wealth Spain had already found in its South American colonies, but in this search they were disappointed. The trade in spices, however, was lucrative. Various other European powers soon became involved in a contest to see who would control the spice trade.

Life’s Work

The Dutch established themselves in Jakarta in 1602 and three years later made their first attempt to explore the Pacific. Dutch merchant ships made their way to the Indies by following the old Portuguese route around the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa to the island of Madagascar. From there they would sail either to India or to Java. This route, though, was difficult and dangerous. There were numerous rocks and islands along the way, and the winds were not always blowing in a favorable direction. It was not uncommon for a voyage from Holland to Jakarta to last at least thirteen months. The difficulty of navigation was not the only problem; the longer the voyage, the more likely the possibility of scurvy, a deadly disease linked to the shortages of fresh food and water. Perhaps, company managers suggested, a faster route could be found by sailing across the Pacific to the tip of South America and then up the Atlantic to home. Directors of the East India Company wanted to test this possibility, and they also wanted to know if the Unknown South Land really existed.

The East India Company had been given the sole right to trade in East Asia by the Dutch king. The company made huge profits from this enterprise, and the directors decided to find out whether the Pacific contained any huge continent with even larger quantities of spices—and, perhaps, even deposits of gold and silver. Several expeditions were sent out between 1605 and 1628. The results of these voyages indicated that the eastern and southern coasts of Australia had been traced and mapped. The Dutch called this coastline the “Known South Land” to distinguish it from the unexplored regions farther north and west, which they still called the “Unknown South Land.”

Such was the state of knowledge when Antony van Diemen became governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in 1636. His goal was to increase the wealth and power of the East India Company by sending expeditions to complete the geographical knowledge of the Pacific. One of his immediate objects was to determine whether New Guinea and the Known South Land made up one continent or whether there was a strait between them by which access could be gained to the Pacific. (Unknown to the Dutch was that the Spanish had already discovered, in 1606, that such a strait did indeed exist.) Governor van Diemen hoped to discover a new Peru, rich in gold and silver, in the Unknown South Land; if that did not happen, he hoped at least to find a new land with unknown spices, or fruits and vegetables, that would make his company even richer.

In 1642, Van Diemen gathered an expedition to search for the Unknown South Land. The governor expected the exploration to open up important new areas for trade while also finding a more convenient route across the Pacific to South America. The pilot for the voyage was Frans Jacobsz Visscher, one of the most respected pilots in Holland. Two ships were outfitted for the voyage, the Heemskerck, with a crew of sixty, and the smaller Zeehan, with a crew of fifty. The expedition was commanded by Tasman, who said he was eager to make the journey. The ships were made ready for the voyage and were instructed to explore the Unknown and the Known South Land, the southeastern coast of New Guinea , and all the islands “lying round about.” Van Diemen reminded Tasman of the enormous wealth the early Spanish and Portuguese explorers had found in the West Indies and South America, and he expressed his hope that the Dutch expedition would yield a similar return. Moreover, the Spanish and Portuguese had made many converts to Christianity during their conquest of the New World; perhaps, the governor said, Tasman’s explorers could likewise bring “uncounted blind heathen” to the “wholesome light of Christianity.”

The governor’s instructions described the course the ships were to follow. Directions were also given for the survey and description of any lands discovered. Tasman was to make an accurate record of winds, currents, and weather. The native peoples were to be treated well, and no harm was to be done to them. Information was to be obtained concerning the natural resources of the lands visited and the possibilities of trade. The ships would bring with them a wide variety of trade goods, including tools, mirrors, and cotton cloth. The explorers were to be especially vigilant in their search for gold and silver, but they were cautioned to be careful in showing how important these metals were to the Dutch.

The expedition left Batavia on August 14, 1642. After twenty-two days, they reached the Dutch-controlled Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. The ships arrived in very poor condition. The wooden hull of the Zeehan had partly rotted and was in need of extensive repair. Both ships were leaky, and the rigging for their sails was old and weak. It took more than a month to repair the vessels. During that time, the sailors took in supplies of water and firewood and hunted on the island for wild hogs, goats, and other animals. The Dutch governor of Mauritius gave Tasman maps of the previously surveyed Solomon Islands and the coastline of New Guinea.

The ships were set to sail on October 4, but because of a storm and excessively high winds, they could not get out of the harbor until four days later. By late November, the ships sighted an island Tasman called Van Diemen’s Land, after the Batavian governor (later, the island would be known as Tasmania). Violent weather made exploration of the coast of Van Diemen’s Land very difficult. Not until December 1 was the crew able to land and explore the east coast of the island. A crew member hoisted the Dutch flag and claimed possession of the whole island in the name of the king. Tasman left the island after a week because he could not find good water. As his ships continued east, they saw land again, having reached the shore of the south island of New Zealand.

While anchored in a bay, one of Tasman’s small boats was rammed by a native Māori canoe, and three Dutchmen were killed. Tasman ordered his ships to sail east again, and the bay he left was labeled “Murderer’s Bay” on his maps in memory of the incident.

He passed the north island of New Zealand and, continuing north, encountered the Tonga Islands, where he picked up a fresh supply of water. In February, he found himself in the midst of many islands that the native peoples called the Fiji . These islands did not appear on any of his maps, so he was unsure of his location.

Tasman decided to return to Batavia, but for two weeks bad weather made it impossible for him to determine his position by celestial navigation. At the end of March, conditions brightened, and he was able to head for Batavia. By the end of May, he reached the western edge of New Guinea, and on June 14 he was back in his home port, ending his ten-month journey.

Though his voyage had discovered the existence of previously unknown lands, the Dutch East India Company considered it a failure. No new trading partnerships had been opened, and no gold, silver, or other major resource had been found. Moreover, Tasman had not found a passage through the south ocean to Chile or Peru. Nevertheless, Tasman’s sailing skills impressed the directors, so he was hired to lead another trip in the search for a route to South America. The second voyage was also aimed at finding a route from the East Indies to Chile; in the last months of 1644, however, the Dutch became involved in a war with Portugal, and the voyage to find that route was never undertaken.

Tasman was given three ships and told to determine whether Van Diemen’s Land was the southern part of New Guinea or was a separate island. He was also supposed to determine the geography and nature of any islands he came across that lay between the coast of what is now Australia and New Zealand. One such island investigated on this second voyage was Timor. Little is known of the actual voyage, except that the northern coast of Australia was mapped; the Dutch called it New Holland. On his return to Batavia in August, 1644, Tasman reported that the indigenous peoples he encountered along the coast were miserable and seemed to offer little in trade possibilities. The East India investors were told that Tasman’s explorations had cost much money but returned nothing of value to their investment. Despite his discoveries and navigational achievements, his efforts were not regarded highly by the company.

Significance

Tasman’s discoveries expanded knowledge of the islands in the southwest Pacific and added to the size of the Dutch East Indian colony. He was the first European to reach the island now called Tasmania and the first to sight New Zealand. On his first voyage, he sailed completely around Australia but never saw it. As a result, the question of whether Australia or New Zealand were parts of a great southern continent, the Unknown South Land, was not answered until the voyages of the English explorer James Cook in the 1760’s. The Dutch would eventually lose control of many of Tasman’s land claims during wars with England.

Despite his many accomplishments, Tasman was considered something of a failure during his lifetime because he added no gold or silver to the wealth of the Dutch Republic. He was also unable to find a passage through the islands to South America. His major contributions to geography were the maps he made of the islands he came across.

Bibliography

Allen, Oliver E. The Pacific Navigators. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. This volume in Time-Life’s Seafarers series contains text and illustrations about the voyages of Tasman and others who explored the Pacific Ocean.

Anderson, Grahame. The Merchant of the Zeehan: Isaac Gilsemans and the Voyages of Abel Tasman. Wellington, New Zealand: Te Papa Press, 2001. Anderson, a yachtsman, recounts Tasman’s life and the voyage that brought him to New Zealand. He also describes the role of Gilsemans, an illustrator who sailed with Tasman and drew coastal profiles of the islands they visited. These profiles have traditionally been thought to be rudimentary sketches, but Anderson argues they are accurate and precise cartographic renderings.

Beaglehole, John C. The Discovery of New Zealand. 2d ed. Wellington, New Zealand: Oxford University Press, 1961. Describes Tasman’s first journey in great detail. Includes a bibliography and index.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Exploration of the Pacific. 2d ed. London: Black, 1947. Contains selections from Tasman’s journal and includes a detailed description of the two expeditions led by the Dutch explorer. The brief account of his life presented here is still the most reliable source.

Buck, Peter H. Explorers of the Pacific: European and American Discoveries in Polynesia. Honolulu, Hawaii: Bishop Museum Publications, 1953. A great book by a Māori historian and anthropologist. Covers all the explorers from the earliest Portuguese to the pioneers of the mid-nineteenth century.

Grattan, C. Hartley. The Southwest Pacific to 1900: A Modern History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1963. An older but still useful account of the region. Includes an interesting chapter on the European discoveries of Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific islands, and Antarctica. Includes an especially detailed account of the creation of the Dutch East India Company.

Tasman, Abel Janszoon. Abel Janszoon Tasman and the Discovery of New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Internal Affairs, 1942. Contains the complete text of Tasman’s journal. Useful for the observations on Māori living conditions and Tasman’s difficulties with navigation. Also has some descriptions of animal and plant life.