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Okla-homey
12/13/2007, 06:54 AM
December 13, 1642: Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovers New Zealand

http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/37791/2005608803381971372_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005608803381971372)

365 years ago today, Dutch navigator and employee of the Dutch East India Company, Abel Tasman becomes the first European explorer to sight the South Pacific island group now known as New Zealand.

http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/37349/2005655520718089483_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005655520718089483)
Abel Tasman

In his sole attempt to land, several of Tasman's crew were killed by warriors from a South Island tribe, who apparently interpreted the Europeans' exchange of trumpet signals as a prelude to battle.

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Tasman's two ships with New Zealand natives in the background. Either this was not drawn to scale, or they were very large people.

Tasman called this anchorage Murderer's Bay for the incident. One of the Dutch small boats was rammed by a native (Maori) canoe and three Dutchmen killed. Little other of consequence occurred, except that Tasman determined he would be unable to make friendly terms with the local population.

A few weeks earlier, Tasman had discovered Tasmania, off the southeast coast of Australia. Tasman had named the island Van Diemen's Land (after Anthony van Dieman, his employer who was governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, ) but, like the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia, it was later renamed Tasmania in the explorer's honor.

http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/33335/2005676431749386951_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005676431749386951)
Tasman's 1642 exploration expedition. Tasman sailed from the headquarters of the Dutch East India Co. in modern Indonesia, and it consisted of the first circumnavigation of Australia. Along the route, he discovered the Australian island later named Tasmania in his honor, as well as New Zealand on this day.

New Zealand, named after the Dutch province of Zeeland, did not attract much additional European attention until the late 18th century, when English explorer Captain James Cook traveled through the area and wrote detailed accounts of the islands.

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Cook's map of New Zealand

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Modern map of New Zealand

Whalers, missionaries, and traders followed, and in 1840 Britain formally annexed the islands and established New Zealand's first permanent European settlement at Wellington.

http://aycu27.webshots.com/image/38666/2005637366368154761_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005637366368154761)
New Zealand interior.

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Hobbiton. Most of the outdoor scenes in the film version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy were shot in New Zealand.

http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/36453/2005603682243479524_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005603682243479524)

TUSooner
12/13/2007, 08:51 AM
I hear New Zealand is an awesome place; I'd like to go there.

PM me with your bank account information so I can buy my tickets.
TIA!

Okla-homey
12/13/2007, 11:40 AM
I never got to visit during my years flying for Uncle sam because of their pesly "No Nukes" and "No nuclear weapons systems" allowed rule.

IOW, they slept under the blanket provided by nuclear deterrence, they just didn't want to be in bed with any cold warriors.

proud gonzo
12/13/2007, 12:01 PM
w00t!

http://www.conchords.co.nz/images/small-holding.gif