NEW ZEALAND – Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 – 1659)

“Dit land lijkt alsof je een heel mooi land” “This land looks like being a very beautiful land.” – Abel Tasman – 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman was born in Lutjegast, Netherlands in 1603. He was 33 years old when he travelled to Batavia, Indonesia in the employment of the Dutch East India Company. In 1639, …

Millbrook Reserve

In 1992 in the Millbrook Reserve on Carlton Mill Road, the 350th anniversary of the Dutch explorer and first European in New Zealand waters, Abel Janszoon Tasman’s arrival at the west coast of New Zealand was acknowledged.He named his discovery ‘Staten Landt’, believing that the land was attached to South America! The plaque is a …