Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 - October 10 1659), was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, born in Lutjegast, a village in the province of Groningen, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands, which he did in 1643. Tasman, his navigator Visscher, and his Merchant Gilsemans mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands they encountered.

Early life

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Tasman was born in Groningen, Holland, in 1603. We first hear of him at the end of 1631 when he, a widower living at Amsterdam, married Jannetjie Tjaers. He was shortly afterwards in the service of the East Indies Company and by 1634 was mate of a ship trading from Batavia to the Moluccas. In July of that year he was appointed master of a small ship, the Mocha. He visited Holland in 1637 and returned to Batavia in October 1638, bringing his wife with him.

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