Download or read book Abel Janszoon Tasman (Esprios Classics) written by James Backhouse Walker and published by Blurb. This book was released on 2021-05-15 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 - 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Fiji and New Zealand. Abel Tasman was born around 1603 in Lutjegast, a small village in the province of Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. The oldest available source mentioning him is dated 27 December 1631 when, as a seafarer living in Amsterdam, the 28-year-old became engaged to marry 21-year-old Jannetje Tjaers, of Palmstraat in the Jordaan district of the city.