Abel tasman

Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman (/'eɪbəl 'tæzmən/; Dutch: [ˈaːbəl ˈtɑsmɑn]) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands.

Etymology

The name "Abel Tasman" is of Dutch origin, derived from the biblical name Abel, meaning 'breath', and the surname Tasman, which is a topographic name for someone who lived near a lake (from the Middle Dutch tas, meaning 'lake').

Related Terms

• Dutch East India Company: The Dutch East India Company was an early megacorporation founded by a government-directed amalgamation of several rival Dutch trading companies in the early 17th century.
• Van Diemen's Land: Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia.
• New Zealand: New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands, covering a total area of 268,021 square kilometres.
• Fiji: Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean.

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