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Willem Janszoon
Willem Janszoon (Dutch: [ˈʋɪləm ˈjɑnszoːn]; c. 1570 – c. 1630) was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. He served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 1603–1611 and 1612–1616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of Solor. During his voyage of 1605–1606, Janszoon and his crew became the first Europeans known to have seen and land on the coast of Australia.
His name is sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz, as was customary at his time, but "always pronounced in full and generally still is in the Netherlands where this bit of common knowledge is taught at school." However, the abbreviation Jansz is not the same as the now more predominant unabbreviated but identical Jansz that is a petrified form of Janszoon.
Willem Janszoon was born around 1570 as the son of Jan (c. 1540), but nothing more is known of his early life nor of his parents. He is first recorded as having entered into the service of the Oude compagnie, one of the predecessors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in 1598 as a mate aboard Hollandia, part of the second fleet under Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck, dispatched by the Dutch to the Dutch East Indies. Around 1600 he became the father of Jan Willemsz before setting sail again on 5 May 1601, for the East Indies as master of Lam, one of three ships in the fleet of Joris van Spilbergen.
Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the third time on 18 December 1603, as captain of Duyfken (or Duijfken, meaning 'little dove'), one of twelve ships of the great fleet of Steven van der Hagen. When the other ships left Java, Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in "the great land of New Guinea and other East and Southlands".[quote needs citation]
According to historian J. E. Heeres, Duyfken departed from Bantam on 18 November 1605 (on the Julian calendar, and 28 November on to the Gregorian calendar), based on a contemporary account by John Saris:
The eighteenth November 1605 … heere (Bantam) departed a small Pinnasse of the Flemmings, for the discovery of the Land called Nova Guinea which, as it is said, affordeth great store of Gold [...].
The ship's log and diary of Janszoon are lost, but what remains is his chart of the voyage. From this we know the journey included passages from Bantam to the Banda Islands, then to the Kai Islands, Aru Islands, and then eventually to the coast of western New Guinea, the location of what is today's region of Palau Yos Sudarso.
After that, Janszoon crossed the eastern end of the Arafura Sea into the Gulf of Carpentaria, without being aware of the existence of Torres Strait. Duyfken was actually in Torres Strait in February 1606, a few months before Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through it. On 26 February 1606, Janszoon made landfall at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York in Queensland, near what is now the town of Weipa. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent. Janszoon proceeded to chart some 320 kilometres (200 mi) of the coastline, which he thought was a southerly extension of New Guinea.
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Willem Janszoon
Willem Janszoon (Dutch: [ˈʋɪləm ˈjɑnszoːn]; c. 1570 – c. 1630) was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. He served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 1603–1611 and 1612–1616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of Solor. During his voyage of 1605–1606, Janszoon and his crew became the first Europeans known to have seen and land on the coast of Australia.
His name is sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz, as was customary at his time, but "always pronounced in full and generally still is in the Netherlands where this bit of common knowledge is taught at school." However, the abbreviation Jansz is not the same as the now more predominant unabbreviated but identical Jansz that is a petrified form of Janszoon.
Willem Janszoon was born around 1570 as the son of Jan (c. 1540), but nothing more is known of his early life nor of his parents. He is first recorded as having entered into the service of the Oude compagnie, one of the predecessors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in 1598 as a mate aboard Hollandia, part of the second fleet under Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck, dispatched by the Dutch to the Dutch East Indies. Around 1600 he became the father of Jan Willemsz before setting sail again on 5 May 1601, for the East Indies as master of Lam, one of three ships in the fleet of Joris van Spilbergen.
Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the third time on 18 December 1603, as captain of Duyfken (or Duijfken, meaning 'little dove'), one of twelve ships of the great fleet of Steven van der Hagen. When the other ships left Java, Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in "the great land of New Guinea and other East and Southlands".[quote needs citation]
According to historian J. E. Heeres, Duyfken departed from Bantam on 18 November 1605 (on the Julian calendar, and 28 November on to the Gregorian calendar), based on a contemporary account by John Saris:
The eighteenth November 1605 … heere (Bantam) departed a small Pinnasse of the Flemmings, for the discovery of the Land called Nova Guinea which, as it is said, affordeth great store of Gold [...].
The ship's log and diary of Janszoon are lost, but what remains is his chart of the voyage. From this we know the journey included passages from Bantam to the Banda Islands, then to the Kai Islands, Aru Islands, and then eventually to the coast of western New Guinea, the location of what is today's region of Palau Yos Sudarso.
After that, Janszoon crossed the eastern end of the Arafura Sea into the Gulf of Carpentaria, without being aware of the existence of Torres Strait. Duyfken was actually in Torres Strait in February 1606, a few months before Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through it. On 26 February 1606, Janszoon made landfall at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York in Queensland, near what is now the town of Weipa. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent. Janszoon proceeded to chart some 320 kilometres (200 mi) of the coastline, which he thought was a southerly extension of New Guinea.