Detail from portrait by Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, c. 1637
Born
1603 (1603)
Lutjegast, Dutch Republic
Died
10 October 1659(1659-10-10) (aged 55–56)
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Occupations
Navigator
explorer
sea captain
Spouses
Claesgie Heyndrix
Jannetje Tjaers (Joanna Tiercx)
Children
Claesjen Tasman (daughter)
Abel Janszoon Tasman (Dutch:[ˈɑbəlˈjɑnsoːnˈtɑsmɑn]; 1603 – 10 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).
Born in 1603 in Lutjegast, Netherlands, Tasman started his career as a merchant seaman and became a skilled navigator. In 1633, he joined the VOC and sailed to Batavia, now Jakarta, Indonesia. He participated in several voyages, including one to Japan. In 1642, Tasman was appointed by the VOC to lead an expedition to explore the uncharted regions of the Southern Pacific Ocean. His mission was to discover new trade routes and to establish trade relations with the native inhabitants. After leaving Batavia, Tasman sailed westward to Mauritius, then south to the Roaring Forties, then eastward, and reached the coast of Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen's Land after his patron. He then sailed north east, and discovered the west coast of New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt, but later renamed Nieuw Zeeland after the Dutch province of Zeeland.
Despite his achievements, Tasman's expedition was not entirely successful. The encounter with the Māori people on the South Island of New Zealand resulted in a violent confrontation, which left four of Tasman's men dead. He returned to Batavia without having made any significant contact with the native inhabitants or establishing any trade relations. Nonetheless, Tasman's expedition paved the way for further exploration and colonization of Australia and New Zealand by the British. Tasman continued to serve the Dutch East India Company until his death in 1659, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest explorers of his time.
Abel Janszoon Tasman (Dutch: [ˈɑbəl ˈjɑnsoːn ˈtɑsmɑn]; 1603 – 10 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and...
AbelTasman National Park is a national park at the north end of New Zealand's South Island. It covers 237.1 km2 (91.5 sq mi) of land between Golden Bay...
factory ship. In 2012, Seafish Tasmania brought the ship (then named the AbelTasman) to Australia. She was originally authorized to catch a quota of 18,000...
named after Dutch explorer AbelTasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the island Anthony...
functions. Tasman Bay, the largest indentation in the north coast of the South Island, was named after Dutch seafarer, explorer and merchant AbelTasman. He...
subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer AbelTasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1769 the...
from AbelTasman's voyages The AbelTasman map 1644. The first European impression of Māori, at Murderers' Bay. Drawing by Isaack Gilsemans in Abel Tasman's...
Tasmania power generation schemes. The Nils Holgersson (3) was renamed AbelTasman on 21 April 1985, and set sail for Australia, she arrived in Devonport...
The AbelTasman Coast Track is a 60 kilometres (37 mi) long walking track within the AbelTasman National Park in New Zealand. It extends from Mārahau...
up Tasman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Tasman most often refers to AbelTasman (1603–1659), Dutch explorer. Tasman may also refer to: Tasman booby...
Zealand was named after Zeeland after it was sighted by Dutch explorer AbelTasman. Zeeland was a contested area between the counts of Holland and Flanders...
with her sister Peter Pan (2). In 1985 it was purchased and renamed AbelTasman by TT-line (Tasmania) and after the Australian National Line (ANL) announced...
2269. Wallis, H. Margaret (n.d.). AbelTasman. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abel-Tasman Robert Langdon (ed.) Where the whalers...
from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 was the first known person to cross it. British explorer...
to Eendrachtsland—after his ship, a name which would be in use until AbelTasman named the land New Holland in 1644. In 1619 Frederik de Houtman, in the...
Journey (GW) The Cape Brett Lighthouse walk AbelTasman Coast Track (GW) and AbelTasman Inland Track in AbelTasman National Park Avalanche Peak Track Banks...
The AbelTasman Monument is a memorial to the first recorded contact between Europeans—led by the Dutch explorer AbelTasman—and Māori in New Zealand's...
Vicente Yáñez Pinzón Francisco Pizarro Marco Polo Juan Ponce de León AbelTasman Giovanni da Verrazzano João Gonçalves Zarco Leon Battista Alberti Thomas...
"Abel Janszoon Tasman, His Life and Labours", AbelTasman's Journal, Los Angeles, 1965, pp. 137, 141–2; cited in Andrew Sharp, The Voyages of Abel Janszoon...
European explorer known to have visited New Zealand was the Dutch navigator AbelTasman, on 13 December 1642. In 1643 he charted the west coast of the North...
Global Information