Tasman, Abel

Tasman, Abel ( Janszoon Abel Tasman ) ( 1603 – c. 1659 )
Dutch navigator. In 1642 he was sent by Anthony van Diemen ( 1593 – 1645 , the Governor‐General of the Dutch East Indies) to explore Australian waters; that year he reached Tasmania (which he named Van Diemen's Land ) and New Zealand, and in 1643 arrived at Tonga and Fiji. On a second voyage in 1644 he also reached the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast of Australia.