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European maritime exploration of Australia
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European maritime exploration of Australia
Several waves of European seafarers explored the coastline of Australia over time. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans known to have explored and mapped this coastline. The first documented encounter was that of Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. Dutch seafarers also visited the west and north coasts of the continent, as did French explorers.
The most famous expedition was that of the UK Royal Navy's Lieutenant (and later Captain) James Cook,[citation needed] which took place in 1770 – 164 years after Janszoon's sighting. After an assignment to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus, Cook followed instructions from the British Admiralty to explore the South Pacific for the reported continent of Terra Australis; on 19 April, Cook sighted the south-eastern coast of Australia and became the first recorded European to explore the eastern coastline. Explorers by land and sea continued to survey the continent for some years after settlement.
Some writers have advanced the theory that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to sight Australia in the 1520s.
A number of relics and remains have been interpreted as evidence that the Portuguese reached Australia. The primary evidence to support this theory is the representation of the continent of Jave la Grande, which appears on a series of French world maps known as the Dieppe maps that may be partially based on Portuguese charts. However, most historians do not accept this theory, and the interpretation of the Dieppe maps is highly contentious. In the early 20th century, Lawrence Hargrave argued that Spain had established a colony in Botany Bay in the 16th century. Five coins from the Kilwa Sultanate were found on Marchinbar Island, in the Wessel Islands, in 1945 by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) radar operator Morry Isenberg. In 2018, another coin – also thought to be from Kilwa – was found on a beach on Elcho Island, another of the Wessel Islands, by archaeologist and member of the research group Past Masters, Mike Hermes. Hermes speculated that the coins may suggest trade between Indigenous Australians and Kilwa, or they may have arrived via Makassan contact with Australia. Mike Owen, another member of Past Masters, offered two speculations: these coins may have arrived sometime after the installation of Muhammad Arcone on the Kilwa throne as a Portuguese vassal, from 1505 to 1506; or the Portuguese may have visited the Wessel Islands.
The French navigator Binot Paulmier de Gonneville claimed to have landed in an area that he described as "east of the Cape of Good Hope" in 1504, after being blown off course. For some time, it had been thought that he landed in Australia, but the place where he landed has now been shown to be Brazil (which is north-west of the Cape).
The most significant exploration of Australia in the 17th century was by the Dutch. The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie [VOC], "United East India Company") was set up in 1602 and traded extensively with the islands which now form parts of Indonesia, and hence were already close to Australia.
The first documented and undisputed European sighting of and landing on Australia was in late February 1606, by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon aboard the Duyfken. Janszoon charted the Australian coast and met with Aboriginal people. Janszoon followed the coast of New Guinea, missed the Torres Strait, and explored and then charted part of the western side of Cape York, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, believing the land was still part of New Guinea. On 26 February 1606, Janszoon and his party made landfall near the modern town of Weipa and the Pennefather River, but they were promptly attacked by the Indigenous people. Janszoon proceeded down the coast for some 350 km (220 mi). He stopped in places, but he was met by hostile natives, and some of his men were killed. At the last of these places, he initially had friendly relations with the natives, but after he forced them to hunt for him and appropriated some of their women, violence broke out, and there were many deaths on both sides. These events were recorded in Aboriginal oral history that has come down to the present day.[citation needed] There Janszoon decided to turn back, the place later being called Cape Keerweer, Dutch for "turnabout".[citation needed]
That same year, a Spanish expedition sailing in nearby waters and led by Pedro Fernández de Quirós landed in the New Hebrides; believing this to be the fabled southern continent, they named the land Austrialia del Espiritu Santo ("Southern Land of the Holy Spirit"), in honour of his queen, Margaret of Austria, the wife of Philip III of Spain. Later that year, De Quirós' deputy, Luís Vaez de Torres, sailed to the north of Australia through the Torres Strait, charting New Guinea's south coast, and possibly sighting Cape York in October 1606.
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European maritime exploration of Australia
Several waves of European seafarers explored the coastline of Australia over time. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans known to have explored and mapped this coastline. The first documented encounter was that of Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. Dutch seafarers also visited the west and north coasts of the continent, as did French explorers.
The most famous expedition was that of the UK Royal Navy's Lieutenant (and later Captain) James Cook,[citation needed] which took place in 1770 – 164 years after Janszoon's sighting. After an assignment to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus, Cook followed instructions from the British Admiralty to explore the South Pacific for the reported continent of Terra Australis; on 19 April, Cook sighted the south-eastern coast of Australia and became the first recorded European to explore the eastern coastline. Explorers by land and sea continued to survey the continent for some years after settlement.
Some writers have advanced the theory that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to sight Australia in the 1520s.
A number of relics and remains have been interpreted as evidence that the Portuguese reached Australia. The primary evidence to support this theory is the representation of the continent of Jave la Grande, which appears on a series of French world maps known as the Dieppe maps that may be partially based on Portuguese charts. However, most historians do not accept this theory, and the interpretation of the Dieppe maps is highly contentious. In the early 20th century, Lawrence Hargrave argued that Spain had established a colony in Botany Bay in the 16th century. Five coins from the Kilwa Sultanate were found on Marchinbar Island, in the Wessel Islands, in 1945 by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) radar operator Morry Isenberg. In 2018, another coin – also thought to be from Kilwa – was found on a beach on Elcho Island, another of the Wessel Islands, by archaeologist and member of the research group Past Masters, Mike Hermes. Hermes speculated that the coins may suggest trade between Indigenous Australians and Kilwa, or they may have arrived via Makassan contact with Australia. Mike Owen, another member of Past Masters, offered two speculations: these coins may have arrived sometime after the installation of Muhammad Arcone on the Kilwa throne as a Portuguese vassal, from 1505 to 1506; or the Portuguese may have visited the Wessel Islands.
The French navigator Binot Paulmier de Gonneville claimed to have landed in an area that he described as "east of the Cape of Good Hope" in 1504, after being blown off course. For some time, it had been thought that he landed in Australia, but the place where he landed has now been shown to be Brazil (which is north-west of the Cape).
The most significant exploration of Australia in the 17th century was by the Dutch. The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie [VOC], "United East India Company") was set up in 1602 and traded extensively with the islands which now form parts of Indonesia, and hence were already close to Australia.
The first documented and undisputed European sighting of and landing on Australia was in late February 1606, by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon aboard the Duyfken. Janszoon charted the Australian coast and met with Aboriginal people. Janszoon followed the coast of New Guinea, missed the Torres Strait, and explored and then charted part of the western side of Cape York, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, believing the land was still part of New Guinea. On 26 February 1606, Janszoon and his party made landfall near the modern town of Weipa and the Pennefather River, but they were promptly attacked by the Indigenous people. Janszoon proceeded down the coast for some 350 km (220 mi). He stopped in places, but he was met by hostile natives, and some of his men were killed. At the last of these places, he initially had friendly relations with the natives, but after he forced them to hunt for him and appropriated some of their women, violence broke out, and there were many deaths on both sides. These events were recorded in Aboriginal oral history that has come down to the present day.[citation needed] There Janszoon decided to turn back, the place later being called Cape Keerweer, Dutch for "turnabout".[citation needed]
That same year, a Spanish expedition sailing in nearby waters and led by Pedro Fernández de Quirós landed in the New Hebrides; believing this to be the fabled southern continent, they named the land Austrialia del Espiritu Santo ("Southern Land of the Holy Spirit"), in honour of his queen, Margaret of Austria, the wife of Philip III of Spain. Later that year, De Quirós' deputy, Luís Vaez de Torres, sailed to the north of Australia through the Torres Strait, charting New Guinea's south coast, and possibly sighting Cape York in October 1606.
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