Likely born in 1602 or 1603[1] inLutjegast, Netherlands, Tasman started his career as amerchant seaman and became a skillednavigator. In 1633, he joined the VOC and sailed toBatavia, 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 theSouthern 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 theRoaring Forties, then eastward, and reached the coast of Tasmania, which he namedVan Diemen's Land after his patron,Anthony van Diemen. He then sailed north east, and was the first European to discover the west coast of New Zealand, which he namedStaten Landt. It was later renamedNieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province ofZeeland, byJoan Blaeu, official Dutch cartographer to the Dutch East India Company.[1]
Despite his achievements, Tasman's expedition was not entirely successful. The encounter with theMāori people on theSouth 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 exploitation and colonization of Australia and New Zealand by the British. Tasman continued to serve the Dutch East India Company until his death in 1659.
Abel Tasman was likely born in 1602 or 1603 inLutjegast, a village in theProvince of Groningen.[1] He married Claesgie Heyndrix, with whom he had a daughter named Claesjen.[1] A proclamation of his second marriage, given in December 1631 at Amsterdam, describes him as a widower and sailor.[1] On 27 December 1631 as a 28-year old seafarer living in Amsterdam, he married 21-year-old Jannetje Tjaers, of Palmstraat in Amsterdam.[1]
Uneducated, but employed by theDutch East India Company (VOC), Tasman learned navigation and seamanship on the job. In 1634, he was appointed skipper of theMocha, and, under the command of Frans Valck, he went on a two-year voyage to theMaluku Islands.[2]
Tasman sailed fromTexel (Netherlands) toBatavia, now Jakarta, in 1633 taking the southernBrouwer Route. While based in Batavia, Tasman took part in a voyage toSeram Island (in what is now the Maluku Province in Indonesia) because the locals had sold spices to other European nationalities than the Dutch.
Tasman docked to find wood for repairs and was separated from the other ships; a fight broke out with local villagers and at least two of Tasman's men were killed.[2][3]
By August 1637, Tasman had returned to Amsterdam, and in 1638 he signed on for another ten years and took his wife with him to Batavia via a six-month journey.[3] On 25 March 1638, he tried to sell his property in the Jordaan, but the purchase was cancelled.
One of the objectives was to obtain knowledge of "all the totally unknown"Provinces of Beach.[5] This was a purported yetphantom island said to have plentiful gold, which had appeared on European maps since the 15th century, as a result of an error in some editions ofMarco Polo's works.
The expedition was to use two small ships,Heemskerck andZeehaen.
In accordance with Visscher's directions, Tasman sailed from Batavia on 14 August 1642[6] and arrived atMauritius on 5 September 1642, according to the captain's journal.[7] The reason for this was the crew could be fed well on the island; there was plenty of fresh water and timber to repair the ships. Tasman got the assistance of the governorAdriaan van der Stel.
Because of the prevailing winds, Mauritius was chosen as a turning point. After a four-week stay on the island, both ships left on 8 October using theRoaring Forties to sail east as fast as possible. (No one had gone as far asPieter Nuyts in 1626/27.) On 7 November, snow and hail influenced the ship's council to alter course to a more north-easterly direction,[8] with the intention of having theSolomon Islands as their destination.
Proceeding south, Tasman skirted the southern end of Tasmania and turned north-east. He then tried to work his two ships intoAdventure Bay on the east coast ofSouth Bruny Island, but he was blown out to sea by a storm. This area he namedStorm Bay. Two days later, on 1 December, Tasman anchored to the north of Cape Frederick Hendrick just north of theForestier Peninsula. On 2 December, two ship's boats under the command of the Pilot, Major Visscher, rowed through the Marion Narrows into Blackman Bay, and then west to the outflow of Boomer Creek where they gathered some edible "greens".[10] Tasman named the bay, Frederick Hendrik Bay, which included the present North Bay,Marion Bay and what is now Blackman Bay. (Tasman's original naming, Frederick Henrick Bay, was mistakenly transferred to its present location byMarion Dufresne in 1772). The next day, an attempt was made to land in North Bay. However, because the sea was too rough, a ship's carpenter swam through the surf and planted the Dutch flag. Tasman then claimed formal possession of the land on 3 December 1642.[11]
For two more days, he continued to follow the east coast northward to see how far it went. When the land veered to the north-west atEddystone Point,[12] he tried to follow the coast line but his ships were suddenly hit by theRoaring Forties howling through Bass Strait.[13] Tasman was on a mission to find the Southern Continent not more islands, so he abruptly turned away to the east and continued his continent-hunting.[14]
Chart, NE coast of the South Island, New Zealand, Huijdecoper journal of Abel Tasman, Hessel Gerritsz, 1643Murderers' Bay, drawing byIsaack Gilsemans[15]MāorihakaTongatapu, the main island ofTonga; drawing byIsaack GilsemansThe bay of Tongatapu with the two ships; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans
Tasman had intended to proceed in a northerly direction but as the wind was unfavourable he steered east. The expedition endured a rough voyage and in one of his diary entries Tasman claimed that his compass was the only thing that had kept him alive.
On 13 December 1642 Tasman and his crew became the first Europeans to reach New Zealand when they sighted the north-west coast of theSouth Island.[16] Tasman named itStaten Landt "in honour of theStates General" (Dutch parliament).[17] He wrote, "it is possible that this land joins to the Staten Landt but it is uncertain",[18] referring toIsla de los Estados, a landmass of the same name at the southern tip of South America, encountered by the Dutch navigatorJacob Le Maire in 1616.[19] However, in 1643Brouwer'sexpedition to Valdivia found out that Staaten Landt was separated by sea from the hypothetical Southern Land.[20][21][22] Tasman continued: "We believe that this is the mainland coast of the unknown Southland."[23] Tasman thought he had found the western side of the long-imaginedTerra Australis that stretched across the Pacific to near the southern tip of South America.[24] On 14 December 1642 Tasman's ships anchored 7 km offshore c. 20km south of Cape Foulwind near Greymouth. The ships were observed by Māori who named a place on this coast Tiropahi (the place were a large sailing ship was seen).[25]
After sailing north then east for five days, the expedition anchored about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the coast off what is nowGolden Bay. A group ofMāori paddled out in awaka (canoe) and attacked some sailors who were rowing between the two Dutch vessels. Four sailors were clubbed to death withpatu.[26]
In the evening about one hour after sunset we saw many lights on land and four vessels near the shore, two of which betook themselves towards us. When our two boats returned to the ships reporting that they had found not less than thirteen fathoms of water, and with the sinking of the sun (which sank behind the high land) they had been still about half a mile from the shore. After our people had been on board about one glass, people in the two canoes began to call out to us in gruff, hollow voices. We could not in the least understand any of it; however, when they called out again several times we called back to them as a token answer. But they did not come nearer than a stone's shot. They also blew many times on an instrument, which produced a sound like the moors' trumpets. We had one of our sailors (who could play somewhat on the trumpet) play some tunes to them in answer."[7]
As Tasman sailed out of the bay he observed 22 waka near the shore, of which "eleven swarming with people came off towards us". The waka approached theZeehaen which fired and hit a man in the largest waka holding a small white flag.Canister shot also hit the side of a waka.[7][27] Archaeologist Ian Barber suggests that local Māori were trying to secure a cultivation field under ritual protection (tapu) where they believed the Dutch were attempting to land. December was at the mid-point of the locally important sweet potato/kūmara (Ipomoea batatas) growing season.[28] Tasman named the area "Murderers' Bay".[26]
The expedition then sailed north, sightingCook Strait, which separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand, and which it mistook for abight and named "Zeehaen's Bight". Two names that the expedition gave to landmarks in the far north of New Zealand still endure:Cape Maria van Diemen andThree Kings Islands. (Kaap Pieter Boreels was renamedCape Egmont by CaptainJames Cook 125 years later.)
En route back to Batavia, Tasman came across theTongan archipelago on 20 January 1643. While passing theFiji Islands Tasman's ships came close to being wrecked on the dangerous reefs of the north-eastern part of the Fiji group. He charted the eastern tip ofVanua Levu andCikobia-i-Lau before making his way back into the open sea.
The expedition turned north-west towardsNew Guinea and arrived back in Batavia on 15 June 1643.[1][11]
Tasman leftBatavia on 30 January 1644 on his second voyage with three ships:Limmen,Zeemeeuw and the tenderBraek. He followed the south coast of New Guinea eastwards in an attempt to find a passage to the eastern side ofNew Holland. However, he missed theTorres Strait between New Guinea and Australia, probably due to the numerous reefs and islands obscuring potential routes, and continued his voyage by following the shore of theGulf of Carpentaria westwards along the north Australian coast. He mapped the north coast of Australia, making observations onNew Holland and its people.[29] He arrived back inBatavia in August 1644.
From the point of view of theDutch East India Company, Tasman's explorations were a disappointment: he had neither found a promising area for trade nor a useful new shipping route. Although Tasman was received courteously on his return, the company was upset that Tasman had not fully explored the lands he found, and decided that a more "persistent explorer" should be chosen for any future expeditions.[30] For over a century, until the era of James Cook, Tasmania and New Zealand were not visited by Europeans; mainland Australia was visited, but usually only by accident.
On 2 November 1644, Abel Tasman was appointed a member of the Council of Justice inBatavia. He went to Sumatra in 1646, and in August 1647 to Siam (nowThailand) with letters from the company to the King. In May 1648, he was in charge of an expedition sent toManila to try to intercept and loot the Spanish silver ships coming from America, but he had no success and returned to Batavia in January 1649. In November 1649, he was charged and found guilty of having in the previous year hanged one of his men without trial, was suspended from his office of commander, fined, and made to pay compensation to the relatives of the sailor. On 5 January 1651, he was formally reinstated in his rank and spent his remaining years at Batavia. He was in good circumstances, being one of the larger landowners in the town. In 1653, he retired; at that time he owned 288 acres of land in Batavia and captained a small cargo ship, of which he was a part-owner.[1]
In April 1657, Tasman wrote hiswill and testament, describing himself as ill but not bedridden.[1] Tasman died at Batavia on 10 October 1659 and was survived by his second wife and a daughter by his first wife. His property was divided between his wife and his daughter. In his will, he left 25 guilders to the poor of his village,Lutjegast.[31]
Although Tasman's pilot,Frans Visscher, publishedMemoir concerning the discovery of the South land in 1642,[32] Tasman's detailed journal was not published until 1898. Nevertheless, some of his charts and maps were in general circulation and used by subsequent explorers.[29] The journal signed by Abel Tasman of the 1642 voyage is held in the Dutch National Archives atThe Hague.[33]
Tasman's ten-month voyage in 1642–43 had significant consequences. By circumnavigating Australia (albeit at a distance) Tasman proved that the small fifth continent was not joined to any larger sixth continent, such as the long-imagined Southern Continent. Further, Tasman's suggestion that New Zealand was the western side of that Southern Continent was seized upon by many European cartographers who, for the next century, depicted New Zealand as the west coast of aTerra Australis rising gradually from the waters aroundTierra del Fuego.[citation needed] This theory was eventually disproved when Captain Cook circumnavigated New Zealand in 1769.[34]
His portrait has been on four New Zealand postage stamp issues, on a 1992 5NZD coin, and on 1963, 1966[35][unreliable source?] and 1985 Australian postage stamps.[36]
In the Netherlands, many streets are named after him. In Lutjegast, the village where he was born, there is a museum dedicated to his life and travels.
Portrait of disputed provenance held by the National Library of Australia, purported to depict Tasman and his family
A drawing titledAbel Janssen Tasman, Navigateur en Australie is held by theState Library of New South Wales as part of "a portfolio of 26 ink drawings of 16th and 17th century Dutch admirals, navigators and governor-generals of the VOC".[37] The portfolio was acquired at an art auction inThe Hague in 1862.[38] However, it is unclear if the drawing is of Tasman and its original source is unknown, although it has been said to resemble the work of Dutch engraverJacobus Houbraken.[39] The drawing has been assessed as having the "most reliable provenance" of any depiction of Tasman with "no strong reason to doubt that the drawing is not genuine".[40]
Theprovenance provided from Nan Kivell for the family portrait has been unable to be verified. Nan Kivell claimed that the portrait was passed down through the Springer family – relatives of Tasman's widow – and was sold atChristie's in 1877. However, Christie's records indicate that the portrait was not owned by the Springer family or associated with Tasman, and was instead sold as "Portrait of an astronomer" by "Anthonie Palamedes" [sic].[41] Nan Kivell additionally claimed that the portrait was sold at Christie's a second time in 1941, however no records exist to support this. A survey of portraits of Tasman published in 2019 concluded that the provenance was "either invented by Rex Nan Kivell or by the unnamed art dealer who sold it to Rex Nan Kivell", and that the painting "should therefore not be considered a portrait of Abel Tasman's family".[43]
Outside of the Nan Kivell painting, another purported portrait of Tasman was "discovered" in 1893 and eventually acquired by the Tasmanian government in 1976 for theTasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).[44] The painting is unsigned and was attributed toBartholomeus van der Helst at the time of its discovery, but this attribution was disputed by Dutch art historianCornelis Hofstede de Groot and Alec Martin of Christie's. In 1985, TMAG curator Dan Gregg stated that "the painter of the life-sized portrait is unknown [...] there is some uncertainty as to whether the portrait is really of Tasman".[45]
'Bonaparte Tasman map,' includes inset with Mauritius, Indonesia and Sumatra, c. 1644State Library of New South Wales vestibule, showing a mosaic of the Tasman map inlaid in the floor
Held within the collection of theState Library of New South Wales is the Tasman map,[46] thought to have been drawn by Isaac Gilsemans, or completed under the supervision of Franz Jacobszoon Visscher.[47] The map is also known as the Bonaparte map, as it was once owned byPrince Roland Bonaparte, the great-nephew ofNapoleon.[48] The map was completed sometime after 1644 and is based on the original charts drawn during Tasman's first and second voyages.[49] As none of the journals or logs composed during Tasman's second voyage have survived, the Bonaparte map remains an important contemporary artefact of Tasman's voyage to the northern coast of the Australian continent.[49]
The Tasman map reveals the extent of understanding the Dutch had of the Australian continent at the time.[50] The map includes the western and southern coasts of Australia, accidentally encountered by Dutch voyagers as they journeyed by way of the Cape of Good Hope to theVOC headquarters inBatavia.[48] In addition, the map shows the tracks of Tasman's two voyages.[48] Of his second voyage, the map shows theBanda Islands, the southern coast ofNew Guinea and much of the northern coast of Australia. However, the land areas adjacent to the Torres Strait are shown unexamined; this is despite Tasman having been given orders by VOC Council at Batavia to explore the possibility of a channel between New Guinea and the Australian continent.[49][50]
There is debate as to the origin of the map.[51] It is widely believed that the map was produced in Batavia; however, it has also been argued that the map was produced in Amsterdam.[48][51] The authorship of the map has also been debated: while the map is commonly attributed to Tasman, it is now thought to have been the result of a collaboration, probably involving Franchoijs Visscher andIsaack Gilsemans, who took part in both of Tasman's voyages.[5][51] Whether the map was produced in 1644 is also subject to debate, as a VOC company report in December 1644 suggested that at that time no maps showing Tasman's voyages were yet complete.[51]
In 1943, a mosaic version of the map, composed of coloured brass and marble, was inlaid into the vestibule floor of theMitchell Library in Sydney.[52] The work was commissioned by the Principal LibrarianWilliam Ifould, and completed by the Melocco Brothers[53] of Annandale, who also worked on theANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park and the crypt atSt Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.[53][47]
^Andrew Sharp,The Voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1968, p. 25.
^abJ.E. Heeres, "Abel Janszoon Tasman, His Life and Labours",Abel Tasman's Journal, Los Angeles, 1965, pp. 137, 141–142; cited in Andrew Sharp,The Voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1968, p. 24.
^Burney, J (1813)A Chronological History of the Voyage and Discoveries in the South Sea of Pacific Ocean L Hansard & Sons, London, p. 70, cited in Potts, B.M. et al. (2006)Janet Sommerville's Botanical History of Tasmania University of Tasmania and TMAG
^Schilder, Günter (1976).Australia unveiled : the share of the Dutch navigators in the discovery of Australia. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd. p. 170.ISBN9022199975.
^Valentyn, Francois (2003) [1724–1726].Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien. Dordrecht: J. van Braam. p. vol. 3, p. 47.ISBN9789051942347.
^Cameron-Ash, M. (2018).Lying for the Admiralty. Sydney: Rosenberg. p. 105.ISBN9780648043966.
^Tasman, Abel Jansz.The Huydecoper Journal, 1642–1643. Sydney: Mitchell Library, SLNSW. p. 43.
^Cameron-Ash, M. (2018).Lying for the Admiralty. Sydney: Rosenberg. pp. 21–22.ISBN9780648043966.
^Mack, Rudiger (2024).First Encounters. The Early Pacific and European Narratives of Abel Tasman's 1642 Voyage. Feilding, New Zealand: Heritage Press. pp. 47–49.ISBN9781991097002.
^Diary of Abel Tasman pp. 21–22. Random House. 2008
^Barber, Ian (2012). "Gardens of Rongo: Applying Cross-Field Anthropology to Explain Contact Violence in New Zealand".Current Anthropology.53 (6). University of Chicago Press:799–808.doi:10.1086/667834.ISSN0011-3204.
^abQuanchi,Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands, p. 237
^A translation of part of Visscher's memoir may be read on pp. 24–27 of Andrew Sharp, The voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Oxford: Clarendon, 1968, p. 82, n. 1.
^Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Aanwinsten Eerste Afdeling, nummer toegang 1.11.01.01, inventarisnummer 121
^Cameron-Ash, M. (2018).Lying for the Admiralty. Rosenberg. pp. 21–22.ISBN9780648043966.
^abcPatton, Maggie (2014). "Tasman's Legacy". In Pool, David (ed.).Mapping our world : Terra Incognita to Australia. Canberra. pp. 140–142.ISBN9780642278098.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^abJeans, D.N. (1972).Historical Geography of New South Wales to 1901. Reed Education. p. 24.ISBN0589091174.
^abcdAnderson, G (2001).The Merchant of the Zeehaen: Isaac Gilsemans and the voyages of Abel Tasman. Wellington: Te Papa Press. pp. 155–158.ISBN0909010757.
Edward Duyker (ed.) The Discovery of Tasmania: Journal Extracts from the Expeditions of Abel Janszoon Tasman and Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne 1642 & 1772, St David's Park Publishing/Tasmanian Government Printing Office, Hobart, 1992, pp. 106,ISBN0-7246-2241-1.
Mack, Rudiger (2024),First Encounters: The Early Pacific and European Narratives of Abel Tasman's 1642 Voyage.[1] Feilding, New Zealand: Heritage Press.ISBN978-1-991097-00-2
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