Early explorers and settlers
The Tasman's Legacy book provides detailed information about the Dutch early explorers and settlers.
Here's a short excerpt from the book to whet your appetite:
Chapter 1 - ABEL TASMAN
Putting New Zealand on the Map
"To this land we have given the name of Staten Landt, in honour of the High Mightinesses the States-General, since it could be quite possible that this land was connected with Staten Landt, although this is not certain. This land looks like being a very beautiful land and we trust that this is the mainland coast of the unknown South Land. To this course we have given the name Abel Tasman Passage since he is the first to have navigated it."
Abel Tasman's journal, December 1642
Three hundred and fifty years ago, Abel Tasman and his crews on the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen became the first Europeans to see New Zealand.
Their four-month voyage to the last unknown part of the globe placed New Zealand on the maps of the world, and opened the first chapter of the history that binds New Zealand and the Netherlands.
For his voyage to New Zealand, Tasman was praised as the greatest explorer since Magellan, but generations of New Zealanders and Netherlanders have seldom given him the credit he is due.
New Zealanders were taught that while a Dutchman, Abel Tasman, was the first European to see the country, an Englishman, James Cook, was the man who really discovered New Zealand. The voyages of Polynesian navigators who came from Hawaiiki and settled hundreds of years before Tasman were also given little regard, as though history only began with that which was recorded on maps and in journals.
Cook paved the way for the British colonisation of New Zealand. His circumnavigation, scientific observation and adept mapping of the country was undoubtedly a key to its subsequent development. So, with New Zealand's history being taught for generations from a British perspective, Cook was seen as the real hero.
In the Netherlands, too, Tasman has been relegated to the lower ranks of the maritime greats, coming in behind the captains and admirals who won great sea battles or paved the way for the founding of Dutch colonies.
The 350th anniversary of Tasman's arrival on the New Zealand coast is an opportunity to look again at his achievements.
Read more of Tasman's Legacy