The Netherlands: The Dutch Explorers

The Dutch set up The Dutch East Indies Company in Batavia, which is part of what is now Indonesia. In the early 1600's, the company controlled the East Indies spice trade, which was extremely profitable.

Europeans had long thought there must be land south of there, which they called 'The Great South Land', and many Dutch explorers set off from Batavia to look for it.
A map of Batavia in 1681

Long before Captain Cook sailed along the east coast of Australia, Dutch explorers visited.
Map of those visits: http://www.ozedweb.com/history/oz_e_dutch.htm

In 1606, a Dutch ship called Duyfken (Little Dove), under the command of Willem Janszoon (sometimes known as Jansz), sailed from the Indonesian island of Banda to search for riches on the island of Nova Guinea.The ship sailed south-east past what is now known as Papua New Guinea but was then called Os Papuas .They explored and mapped part of the coast of Nova Guinea. They found the northern coast of the Great South Land: Australia. Captain Janszoon was the first European to see and land on Australia. He was the first to map and record Australia. This voyage marks the beginning of Australia's recorded history.

Janszoon was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He became an admiral and also served as the governor of Banda. He returned to the Netherlands in 1628. Nothing is known of him after that time.
Read about the Duyfken and the replica that has been built:
http://www.duyfken.com/

Some other Dutch explorers:
Dirck Hartog was the first European to map the western coast of Australia. He sailed from Amsterdam on a ship called Eendracht, around the Cape of Good Hope to Java, and then to western Australia. In 1616 he landed on a small island which he called Dirk Hartog Island. He nailed a metal plate describing his exploration onto a post at the northern tip of the island, now called Cape Inscription. In 1696, Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh landed on Dirk Hartog Island and found the metal plate. He replaced it with a new inscribed plate, and brought Hartog's original plate to Amsterdam, where it is now in the Rijksmuseum.

Find sites about Hartog on this kidcyber page http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/Austexplos.htm

Peter Minuit was the first director general of New Amsterdam, a Dutch colony in America. He was sent to the area by the Dutch West India Company. He bought the island of Manhattan (which is now part of New York City) from the Native American owners for some beads and trinkets, which today would be valued at about $25 US. He set up New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan. In 1631, Minuit lost his job with the Dutch West India Company. In 1638 he led a Swedish group that set up the first European settlement on the Delaware River, which they called New Sweden. Minuit died in a hurricane in the West Indies in 1638.

Peter Stuyvesant was born in Holland and worked for the Dutch West India Company. In 1643, Stuyvesant was appointed the director of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire Islands in the Caribbean. He fought against the Portuguese in the Caribbean, and lost his right leg when it was crushed by a cannonball. After that he walked on a silver-tipped wooden leg.

In 1645, Stuyvesant became the director general of all the Dutch lands in North America, including islands in the Caribbean. He went to New Amsterdam (now New York City) as governor in 1647. New Amsterdam was won by the British in 1664, when the colonists decided to surrender to the British without a fight .

New Amsterdam was renamed New York, and a British Captain became governor. Stuyvesant retired to his farm on Manhattan, called the Great Bouwerie. Bouwerie is the old Dutch word for farm, and today that part of New York City is called the Bowery. Stuyvesant died in 1672.

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch explorer, employed by the Dutch East India Company, who was the first European to sail to Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, and the Fiji Islands. His first expedition was to Australasia, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific. His second expedition was to Australia and the South Pacific.
Read about Tasman here http://gutenberg.net.au/pages/tasman.html

If you use any part of this, acknowledge it in your bibliography like this:
Dutch Explorers (2003). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au

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Updated October 2006