Willem Janszoon

Willem Janszoon (c.1570 - 1630), Dutch navigator and colonial governor, is the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia. His name sometimes appears as Willem Jansz. (an abbreviation, with or without the full stop{{fn|1}}). Janszoon was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Related Topics:
1570 - 1630 - Dutch - Australia - Amsterdam

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Nothing is known of Janszoon's early life. He entered the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) sometime before 1600, and sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies in December 1603 as skipper of the Duyfken (or Duijfken, meaning "Little Dove"), part of a fleet of twelve ships. Once in the Indies, Janszoon was sent to search out other outlets for trade, particularly in "the great land of Nova Guinea and other East and Southlands."

Related Topics:
Dutch East India Company - 1600 - East Indies - 1603 - Duyfken

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On November 18 1605, the Duyfken sailed from Bantam to the coast of western New Guinea. She then crossed eastern end of the Arafura Sea, without seeing Torres Strait, into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and made a landfall on the western shore of Cape York in Queensland, near the modern town of Weipa. Janszoon charted 320km of the Australian coast, which he thought was a southern extension of New Guinea.

Related Topics:
November 18 - 1605 - Bantam - New Guinea - Arafura Sea - Torres Strait - Gulf of Carpentaria - Cape York - Queensland - Weipa

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Finding the land swampy and the people inhospitable (ten of his men were killed on various shore expeditions), at Cape Keerveer ("Turnabout"), south of Albatross Bay, Janszoon headed home and arrived at Bantam in June 1606. He called the land he had discovered "Nieu Zelandt," but this name was not adopted, and was later used by Abel Tasman to name New Zealand.

Related Topics:
1606 - Abel Tasman - New Zealand

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Although there have been many suggestions that earlier navigators from China, France or Portugal may have discovered parts of Australia, the Duyfken is the first European vessel known to have done so.

Related Topics:
China - France - Portugal

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Janszoon served in the Netherlands East Indies for several periods (1603-11, 1612-16, including a period as governor of Fort Henricus on Solor, and 1618-28, during which time was served as admiral of the Dutch fleet and as governor of Banda 1623-27). Janszoon was awarded a chain of honour in 1619 for his part in capturing four ships of the British East India Company which had aided the Javanese in their defence of the town of Jakarta against the Dutch. In 1628 he retired to the Netherlands with the rank of admiral.

Related Topics:
Netherlands East Indies - 1603 - 11 - 1612 - 16 - 1618 - 28 - 1623 - 27 - 1619 - British East India Company - Jakarta

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The original journals and charts made during Janszoon's 1606 voyage have been lost, but the National Library of Austria in Vienna holds a copy of the map made around 1670. The map, which shows the location of the first landfall in Australia by the Duyfken, is part of the Atlas Blaeu Van der Hem, brought to Vienna in 1730 by Prince Eugene of Savoy.

Related Topics:
1606 - National Library of Austria - Vienna - 1670 - 1730 - Prince Eugene of Savoy

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