EXPLORATION
Abel Janszoon Tasman
Australia Crest
On the 24th November, 1642 this Dutch navigator sighted the south-west coast of what is now Tasmania, naming the island Van Diemen's Land for the Dutch governor-general who sent him on the voyage.

On the same voyage of 1642-43 he also 'discovered' New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

Tasman was born in 1603 and died in 1659.
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