James cook discovery of australia. How James Cook discovered Australia. Who discovered Australia according to the official version

26.03.2016

The Australian continent became known to Europeans only in the 18th century. Earlier voyages in the southern waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans also took place, but no documentary evidence of the discovery of new lands has been preserved.

A sharp leap in research occurred in the 15th century, when the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries began. As ships improved technically and navigation developed, Europeans sailed further and further from their native continent. The sea route to India was finally opened, and the question became urgent for researchers and politicians: are there any inhabited lands further south that can be colonized?

The first ships, presumably Portuguese, headed towards Australia back in the 16th century. However, direct evidence of this has not survived. The earliest reliably known visit by Europeans to the Australian coast is considered to be the expedition of the Dutchman Willem Janszoon in 1605. He reached the coast of Australia and even explored it, however, he mistakenly believed that it was part of New Guinea.

“They didn’t notice” the mainland and the Spaniard Torres, who passed through the strait between it and the island of New Guinea in the same year, and another Dutchman, Abel Tasman, who discovered Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1642, visited New Zealand and the waters of Western Australia coast.

Correct calculations, the tenacity of the commander, luck and a combination of other important factors led to the fact that the honor of discovering the mainland and its subsequent colonization went to Britain. The English navigator and scientist James Cook became the first European who, having explored the shores of Australia, declared it the possessions of his country. This happened during his first circumnavigation of the world (1768-1771).

The main stated purpose of the expedition sent by the British Admiralty was astronomical observations, with the help of which it was supposed to calculate the distance from the Sun to Venus and other planets. Under such cover, the British, secretly from their competitors, made their attempt to find the Unknown Southern Land (Terra Australis Incognita), described in the works of ancient geographers.

Having successfully completed the first part of the program, the expedition moved further east. In addition to Cook, the team included other scientists: the astronomer Green and two botanists (Joseph Banks and Karl Solander), as well as two artists (Buchan and Parkinson). First they explored New Zealand, establishing that it is divided by a strait into two islands, and significantly clarifying the map of its coast.

The expedition then headed further east in search of new lands. At that time, it was known about the existence of Tasmania in the south and New Holland (part of Australia) in the northwest. In May 1770, Cook's ship Endeavor reached the coast of Australia. He stayed in the bay found there for 8 days. Scientists were amazed by the variety of new plant species (after which the bay was named Botanical) and the local aborigines, whom they could not classify as either blacks or Polynesians.

The next bay described in detail was Port Jackson, located several kilometers to the north. Its characterization as an ideal place for ships to dock led to the city of Sydney being subsequently founded here. Moving on, the expedition managed to go through everything East Coast, although the ship was damaged on coral reefs.

Having reached New Holland and discovered a strait between it and New Guinea, Cook entered the Gulf of Carpentaria. Finding himself in familiar waters, on August 22, 1770, he, on behalf of King George III, announced that all the lands he had explored now belonged to the British Empire. Upon returning to his homeland, James Cook received fame as the discoverer of the new continent.

In subsequent years, the Admiralty sent Cook twice more on expeditions in search of the Southern Continent and the passage connecting the Pacific and atlantic oceans. He made many more discoveries, although before Antarctica (another part of the “Unknown southern land"in the works of ancient scientists) never got there. In 1779, Cook was killed by natives in the Hawaiian Islands. And Australia, since 1778, began to be used as a place for exile for criminals.

During the Middle Ages, the most incredible legends were made about the wild lands of Australia, calling them the Green Continent Terra Australis Incognita, which translates to “unknown southern land.”

Back in school, we were told that humanity owes the discovery of this picturesque, one-of-a-kind continent to a captain and navigator from England James Cook. It is believed that for the first time residents Big Earth, and specifically Cook first set foot on the shores of Australia in 1770.

It turns out that Europeans had visited Australia before it was discovered by researcher J. Cook. Who, in this case, actually discovered the continent, and in what period of time? a grand affair happened?

The first people appeared in Australia approximately 40–60 thousand years ago. They are the ancestors of the current indigenous Australian population.

Archaeological finds conducted on the Green Continent in the western part of the continent in the upper reaches of the Swan River prove that it was during this period that people began to live in this territory.

To this day, it has not been established exactly where the aborigines came to the Australian continent from. But it is known that at that time people immediately settled in Australia several heterogeneous populations. Historians claim that people arrived on the mainland by sea, thus becoming the earliest seafarers in the world.

Who was in Australia before the Europeans

According to some assumptions of historians and archaeologists, there is an opinion that the discoverers of Australia were the ancient Egyptians, who brought from these lands the most valuable eucalyptus oil in those days.

During research conducted in Australia, it was possible to discover rock paintings insects that resemble a scarab in appearance. In addition, archaeological excavations in Egypt helped to find out that the mummies were embalmed with eucalyptus oil, which grew in Australia.

Even such amazing historical discoveries and the seemingly indisputable evidence raises doubts among many historians and researchers, because in Europe they began to talk about Australia much later than the heyday of Egypt.

The first Europeans to visit the Green Continent

Willem Janszoon

More in the 16th century Europeans repeatedly tried to discover Australia, but the sailors of that time were not able to get to the mainland due to the dangerous coastlines in some regions of the Green Continent.

A number of scientists believe that the first inhabitants of Europe to set foot on the shores of Australia were the Portuguese.

According to some historical data, it is generally accepted that they did this V 1509, visiting the Moluccas Islands.

Having lived on these Australian landmass for some time, in 1522 they moved to the northwest of the mainland. Found cannons dating back to the 16th century prove the presence of Portuguese navigators. It is assumed that these weapons belonged to sailors from Portugal.

To date, this version is not official. Australians claim that the first European to set foot on the Green Continent was a Dutch admiral Willem Janszoon. This fact is indisputable today.

On his ship called "Dyfken" in November 1605 he left the city of Bantam in Indonesia and headed to New Guinea. After three months of his journey, he landed on the Cape York Peninsula, on the northwest coast of Australia.

It is important to know! Janszon explored more than 320 km of the Australian coast, compiling a detailed map of it.

Interesting that Admiral Willem Janszoon never realized that he had actually discovered Australia. He mistook the lands he found for part of New Guinea and named this territory “New Holland.”

Another navigator from Holland also visited Australia after Janszoon - Abel Tasman. It was he who discovered the islands of New Zealand, and also brought it to his detailed map and the west coast of Australia.

It was thanks to the research of Dutch navigators that by the middle of the 17th century Australia began to take shape.

The official history of the discovery of Australia

James Cook

A number of scientists continue to insist that James Cook- a true pioneer of Australia.

And all because as soon as he visited this continent, Europeans immediately began to come here.

Officially considered that the purpose of Cook's voyage was to study the passage of the planet Venus through the solar disk.

But this world-famous navigator, and then a desperate young lieutenant, wanted to find that very Terra Australis Incognita.

Thus, the starting point of Cook’s trip around the world was the city of Plymouth (England). In April 1769 On the ship Endeavor, the captain and his crew reached the shores of Tahiti, and a year later he approached the eastern Australian shores. After his discovery, he went to this continent with an expedition two more times.

It is important to know! James Cook discovered Australia as part of his voyage around the world in 1768 with the goal of discovering the "unknown southern land."

So, during the third Cook expedition in 1778 were open Hawaiian Islands, which became the place of his tragic death. James Cook failed to improve relations with the Hawaiians. When the navigator attempted to capture a local leader, he was allegedly killed in the battle with a spear blow to the back of the head.

Australia has always been an attractive territory for Europeans. The mysterious southern lands excited the minds of famous sailors. Of course, this one the mainland is incredibly beautiful and mysterious.

And although there are official versions of the discovery of the Green Continent, a number of researchers found evidence that Europeans visited these lands long before James Cook.

History of discovery. Man appeared in Australia 40 thousand years ago. These were aliens from the South and South-East Asia, predecessors of modern Aborigines. Having settled in the eastern part of Australia, people also entered Tasmania. The fact that Tasmanians are descendants of ancient Australians is confirmed by recent archaeological finds on Hunter Island in Bass Strait.

Assumptions about the existence of the mysterious Terra incognita Australis - “Unknown Southern Land” south of the equator were expressed by ancient geographers. A vast area of land in the southern hemisphere was depicted on maps in the 15th century, although its outline did not in any way resemble Australia. The Portuguese had some information concerning the northern coasts of Australia back in the 16th century; they came from the inhabitants of the Malay Islands, who visited the coastal waters of the mainland to catch sea cucumbers. However, until the 17th century, no Europeans managed to see Australia with their own eyes.

The discovery of Australia has long been associated with the name of the English navigator James Cook. In fact, the first Europeans to visit the coast of this continent and meet scattered Aboriginal tribes here were the Dutch: Willem Janszoon in 1605 and Abel Tasman in 1642. Janszon crossed the Torres Strait and sailed along the coast of the Cape York Peninsula, while Tasman discovered the southwestern part of Tasmania, which he considered part of the mainland. And the Spaniard Torres in 1606 sailed through the strait that separates the island of New Guinea from the mainland.

However, the Spaniards and Dutch kept their discoveries secret. James Cook sailed to the east coast of Australia only one hundred and fifty years later, in 1770, and immediately declared it an English possession. A royal “penal colony” was created here for criminals, and later for exiled participants in the Chartist movement in England. Representatives of the English authorities, who sailed with the “first fleet” to the shores of Australia in 1788, founded the city of Sydney, which was subsequently proclaimed the administrative center of the British colony of New South Wales, created in 1824. With the arrival of the “second fleet,” the first free migrants appeared. The development, or rather the seizure of the mainland, begins, accompanied by the most brutal extermination of the indigenous population. A hunt was organized for the aborigines, and bonuses were given for those killed. Often the colonists staged real raids on the indigenous people of Australia, killing them without distinction of gender or age, scattering poisoned food, after which people died in terrible agony. It is not surprising that after a hundred years most of the indigenous population was exterminated. The remaining aborigines were driven from the land of their ancestors and pushed into the interior desert regions. In 1827, England announced the establishment of its sovereignty over the entire continent.

The end of the 18th and the entire 19th century was a time for Australia geographical discoveries. In 1797, the talented English hydrographer M. Flinders began exploring the coasts of the continent, whose work is rated as highly by Australian geographers as Cook's discoveries. He confirmed the existence of Bass Strait, explored the shores of Tasmania and South Australia, everything oriental and north coast continent, mapped the Great Barrier Reef. Flinders proposed giving the continent the name “Australia”, replacing the previously accepted designation on maps “New Holland”, which was finally superseded in 1824.

By the 19th century, the outlines of the mainland were largely mapped, but the interior remained a blank spot. The first attempt to penetrate into the interior of Australia was made in 1813 by an expedition of English colonists who discovered a passage through the Blue Mountains and discovered magnificent grazing lands to the west of the Great Dividing Range. A “land fever” began: a stream of free settlers poured into Australia, seizing huge areas where they organized sheep farms of many thousands. This land grab is called “squatterism.”

The prospecting parties moved further and further to the west, south and north, crossing the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. In 1840, P. Strzelecki discovered the most high peak mainland, which he named Mount Kosciuszko in honor of the national hero of Poland.

More than a dozen large expeditions were equipped to explore the Australian Interior, and attempts were made to cross the continent. Significant discoveries in the interior of the continent belong to Charles Sturt, who first discovered the Darling River and the Simpson Desert. Significant discoveries in the southeast were made by D. Mitchell, in the west by D. Gray; W. Leichgard traveled from the Darling Range to the northern coast, but three years later, while trying to cross the continent from east to west, his expedition went missing in the endless deserts of Central Australia.

For the first time, R. Burke managed to cross the continent from south to north, leading a well-equipped expedition in 1860–1861. Burke walked from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, but on the way back he died along with his companion W. Wills. D. Stewart managed to cross the continent twice, passing through the hottest places in the central deserts.

By the end of the 19th century, the exploration of inland Australia was completed.

At the very beginning of the 19th century, a convict colony was founded in Tasmania; free settlers appeared on the island later, only in the 20s of the 19th century, and then extermination campaigns against the Tasmanian aborigines began. Just a decade later, most of the Tasmanians were exterminated. The last Tasmanian woman died in 1876.

The period of discovery in Tasmania lasted until 1843. By this time, not only the coasts, but also the central regions had been surveyed, work began on a continuous large-scale survey of the territory, and in the 70s large deposits of tin, gold and rare metals were discovered on the island.

The first settlers who arrived in Australia did not find anything similar to the landscapes of England. They perceived neither the beauty of the malga (acacia bushes) nor the splendor of the eucalyptus forests. The colonists did everything to ensure that the landscapes they found themselves in became as similar as possible to the parks and pastures of England.

Until the mid-19th century, the development of Australian territories was slow. The exiles who arrived on the first ships brought with them seeds and plant seedlings, which they began to grow in the poor sandy soils around the first settlement on the site of modern Sydney. Agriculture was slash-and-burn; organic fertilizers were not used, since there were no livestock. During the year, two crops were harvested - wheat and corn; when the harvests fell, the plot was abandoned.

Gradually, farmers began to move from the areas of initial development on the southeast coast, following pastoralists inland, north to the tropical coast, changing old crops and introducing new ones. From 1850 to 1914, Australian farmers developed the best land on the continent. The most fertile soils were almost completely occupied by wheat, and sugar cane began to be grown further north, on the alluvial plains near the Tropic of Capricorn.

At the same time hinterland In Australia, cattle breeding began to move forward, first to the relatively water-logged areas of the open forests of the southeast, and then to the arid regions of Central Australia.

An important milestone in the development of the country was the middle of the last century, when gold was found in several places at once - first in the states of Victoria and New Wales, and then in Western Australia. At this time, a stream of settlers, mainly English and Irish, rushed to Australian soil.

The “Gold Rush”, as well as the spread of extensive sheep farming over large areas of land, led to rapid economic development, population growth and administrative registration of the colonies. In the 70s, there were already six separate colonies in Australia: New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, which fought for self-government. Between 1873 and 1883, negotiations were held between the colonies to create a federation, which culminated in 1889 with the development of a draft constitution.

Abel Tasman- Dutch navigator, explorer and merchant. He received worldwide recognition for the sea voyages he led in 1642-1644. He was the first among famous European explorers to reach the shores of New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. The data collected during his expeditions helped prove the fact that Australia is a separate continent.

Abel Janszoon Tasman was born in 1603 in the village of Luttegast near Groningen (now the municipality of Grotegast in the province of Groningen) in the Netherlands. The exact date of his birth is unknown. The first documentary mention of him dates back to 1631, when he, already widowed by that time, married again. As follows from the surviving church record, his wife was illiterate and came from a poor family, which indirectly confirmed the validity of the assumptions of researchers of his biography about his low social status at that time.

Presumably at the same time, Abel Tasman entered the service of the Dutch East India Company as a simple sailor, but already in the records of 1634 he appears as the skipper (captain) of one of the company's ships. The main occupation of the company's sailors at that time was servicing the transportation of spices and spices, which were expensive and valuable goods for the European market.

In 1638, Tasman, commanding a ship, sailed to India.

In 1639, Tasman led one of two ships (together with M. Quast) equipped by the East India Company to explore shipping areas in the region of Japan and trade opportunities with the local population. In general, this expedition was not successful and after 6 months spent at sea, Tasman’s ship, having lost almost 40 of the 90 crew members, returned to the Dutch fort Zealand on the island of Formosa (Taiwan). During this voyage he discovered the island of Bonin.

In 1640, Tasman again led one of 11 Dutch ships heading to the shores of Japan. This time he spent about three months in the Japanese port of Hirado.

In 1642, Tasman was appointed commander of a detachment of two ships of the East India Company, sent to explore the southern and eastern waters of the Pacific Ocean. According to the hypotheses of geographers and navigators of that era, it was these waters that should have washed the shores of the mythical Unknown Southern Land, the possible wealth of which had been told for several generations. During this voyage, on November 24, 1642, Tasman discovered a large island (Tasmania) off the coast of Australia and named it Van Diemen's Land in honor of the governor of the Netherlands East Indies. Having followed several dozen miles along the coast of the island, Tasman turned east and on December 13 saw the outlines of another unfamiliar land. This was the South Island belonging to New Zealand. While staying near this island, Europeans first met the Maori, the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand. The meeting ended tragically: the Maori attacked the landing Dutch, killed several sailors and disappeared. Annoyed by this incident, Tasman named this place Killer Bay (now Golden Bay).

Continuing along the western coast of the North Tasman Island, he reached its tip and turned northeast. On January 21, 1643, the expedition reached the Tonga archipelago, discovering several previously unknown islands here. Having replenished Tonga's supplies of water and food, on February 6 Tasman's ships approached the islands of the Fiji archipelago. Further, leaving the Fiji Islands to the south, Tasman walked along northern shore New Guinea and on June 15, after almost ten months of travel, arrived in Batavia.

In 1643, Tasman led a detachment of three ships of the East India Company that sailed along the western coast of New Guinea and the northern coast of Australia. As a result, much of the coast of northern Australia was mapped for the first time.

From the point of view of the leadership of the East India Company, the voyages of detachments of ships under the command of Tasman in 1642-1644 ended in complete failure - new trading areas were never discovered and no new sea passages were found for navigation. Until the travels of the British navigator James Cook almost 100 years later, Europeans had not begun to explore New Zealand, and visits to Australia were sporadic and most often caused by shipwrecks. After the expedition returned to Batavia, Tasman was given the rank of commander and his salary was raised, and he himself was appointed a member of the Legal Council of Batavia. In 1647, he was sent as a representative to the King of Siam, and in 1648 he led a detachment of 8 ships that opposed the ships of the Spanish fleet

Around 1651, Abel Tasman retired and began trading in Batavia.

Relief. Australia is the flattest continent. Most of it is a plain, the edges of which are raised, especially in the east. Mountains occupy only 5% of the continent's territory. The average height of the continent is 340-350 m above sea level. In the structure of its surface three areas are clearly expressed: the Zahidno-Australian plateau with a height of 400-500 m, the Central Lowland, where the most low point mainland (-12 m below sea level), and the mid-altitude Great Dividing Range in the east with highest point mainland (Mount Kosciuszko, 2228 m).

The geological structure of Australia is the simplest in comparison with other continents. The continent consists of ancient Precambrian and young

Epihercynian platforms, occupying the western and central territory, and a much smaller folded belt of Liznoproterozoic and Paleozoic age in the east.

The Australian platform is one of the largest on Earth. A distinctive feature of its structure is the alternation of protrusions of the ancient foundation and depressions. Protrusions of metamorphosed and volcanic rocks of the folded basement form three shields - Zahidno-Australian, Pivnichno-Australian and Shvdenno-Australian. Within the first of them, the oldest rocks were found, formed more than 3 billion years ago.

“The eastern part of the continent from the Cape York Peninsula in the north to the island of Tasmania in the south has the Shidno-Australian folded region.

Geological structures determined the differences in surface shapes of the western and eastern parts of the continent.

The Central Lowland is located in the zone of the meridional trough of the Australian Platform. Here the relief is dominated by lowlands, confined to areas of greatest subsidence of the platform foundation - the Lake Eyre basin, the Murray basin and the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Mountainous types of relief are almost not common in Australia. In the southeast, the Western Australian Plateau is bordered by the low (700 - 900 m) blocky mountains of Flinders and Mount Lofty. Flat-topped rises are broken by grabens, which go under water and form the Gulfs of Spencer and St. Vincent. There are mountains in the center of Australia - McDonnelly and Musgrave,

The mountain belt of Eastern Australia is formed by the Great Dividing Range and the mountains of Tasmania. These low folded block mountain structures were formed as a result of Neogene tectonic movements. The eastern slopes of the mountains are steep, the western slopes are gentle. A feature of the Great Dividing Range is the displacement of the main watershed from the higher eastern

ridges to flat-topped low-mountain plateaus in the west.

Australia is rich in mineral resources. The crystalline rocks of the platform's foundation contain iron, copper, lead-zinc, uranium ores, and gold. Minerals of sedimentary origin include deposits of phosphorites, rock salt, hard and brown coal, oil, and natural gas. Many deposits lie at shallow depths, so they are mined by open-pit mining. Australia ranks among the first in the world in terms of reserves of iron ores, non-ferrous metal ores (bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel) and uranium.

Climate. Australia is the driest continent on Earth; three quarters of its surface has insufficient moisture. The climatic conditions on the continent are determined by its position near the equator, on both sides of the tropics. It was the hot tropical sun that caused the formation of extensive deserts on the continent.

Compared with South Africa and South America, south of the equator, Australia is more “stretched” from west to east. With a weakly dissected coastline, this causes constantly high temperatures in the interior and gives the right to consider it the hottest part of the land in the southern hemisphere.

The main territory of Australia is located in three climatic zones- from subequatorial in the north, tropical for the most part, subtropical in the south, and climatologists classify the island of Tasmania as a temperate zone.

From December to February (summer in the southern hemisphere), the continent warms up greatly, especially its central parts; This is the hot season of the year. In the Alice Springs area (center of Australia) and in the adjacent deserts, average daytime air temperatures are about 35-36 degrees, and on some days even above +40. In winter, daytime temperatures here are almost two times lower - about +20 degrees, in the Great Victoria Desert - up to +10 degrees, and in some years night frosts are possible.

In inland areas, the influx of moist air from the north leads in summer to rare rains, which, in general, are of little effect. South 19-20o S. w. precipitation falls no more than 300 mm, and semi-deserts and deserts dominate.

On the West Coast - in Perth, the climate is somewhat milder due to the influence of the ocean - in summer there is usually thirty-degree heat, in winter the air cools to +18...+20 degrees during the day and +6...+8 at night.

The most inhabited region of Australia, the southeast coast, has a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and rainy, mild winters. So, in Melbourne in the summer, on typical January days, the thermometer usually stays around +25..+27 degrees, and in the winter it drops to +10...+12, at night to +5.

In the coolest part of the country - on the island of Tasmania - a typical British climate reigns - in summer the daytime temperature is +20...+22, in winter it is ten degrees cooler. In winter, night frosts occur, but a stable snow cover does not form here - throughout the region, snow falls steadily only on the tops of the mountains.

What is the history of Australia? Let us briefly consider the events associated with its discovery. Some researchers have expressed their assumptions that the first Europeans to reach the shores of Australia at the beginning of the seventeenth century were the Portuguese.

What is the history of discovery and exploration of Australia? This information is briefly presented in encyclopedias, but they do not contain interesting points that confirm travelers’ interest in this territory. Among the evidence that it was the Portuguese who became the discoverers of Australia, the following arguments can be cited:

The Dieppe maps, which were published in mid-16th century France, show a large area of land between Antarctica and Indonesia called Java la Grande. All explanations and symbols on the map are in Portuguese and French.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, there were Portuguese colonies in Southeast Asia. For example, the island of Timor, which is located 650 kilometers from the Australian coast, was attributed specifically to Portuguese travelers.

French "trace"

What else Interesting Facts contains the history of the discovery of Australia and Oceania? Let us briefly tell you that the French navigator Binot Polmier de Gonneville said that it was he who landed on unknown lands near the cape Good Hope in 1504. This happened after his ship was blown off its intended course by the winds. Thanks to this statement, it was this traveler who was long credited with the discovery of Australia. After some time, it was found out that he ended up on the coast of Brazil.

Discovery of Australia by the Dutch

Let's continue the conversation about the history of the discovery of Australia and Oceania. Let us briefly dwell on the first indisputable fact documented in the winter of 1606. The expedition of the Dutch East India Company, led by Willem Janson, managed to land on the coast with his comrades from the ship "Golubok". After sailing from the island of Java, they went to the southern part of New Guinea, moving along it; after some time, the Dutch expedition managed to reach the shores of the Cape York Peninsula, located in the northern part of Australia. The crew members were confident that they were still off the coast of New Guinea.

It is the history of the development of Australia that is briefly discussed in the school course on geography. The expedition did not see which divides the coasts of Australia and New Guinea. On February 26, team members landed near what is now the city of Weipa. The Dutch were immediately attacked by the aborigines. Later, Janson and his people explored about 350 kilometers of the Australian coast, sometimes making landings. His crew constantly ran into hostile natives, so several Dutch sailors were killed during brutal battles with the natives. The captain decided to return. He never realized that he and his team managed to discover a new continent. Since Janson, in describing his study of the coast, described it as swampy and deserted place, no one attached much importance to his new discovery. The East India Company sent expeditions in the hope of enriching themselves with jewelry and spices, and not at all for serious geographical discoveries.

Luis Vaez de Torres

Briefly describing the history of the exploration of Australia, we can also talk about how this traveler moved through the same strait through which Janson’s team first passed. Geographers have assumptions that Torres and his comrades managed to visit the northern coast of the continent, but written evidence of this hypothesis has not been found. After some time, the strait began to be called Torres Strait in honor of Luis Vaez de Torres.

Notable expeditions

The history of the discovery and exploration of Australia is also of interest, briefly telling the story of the journey of another ship of the Dutch East India Company, captained by Dirk Hartog. In 1616, the ship managed to reach the western coast of Australia, near Shark Bay. For three days, the sailors explored the coast and also explored the islands located nearby. The Dutch did not find anything interesting, so Hartog decided to continue sailing, heading north along the coastline, which had not been explored before. The team then headed to Batavia.

Where is the history of the discovery of Australia described? Briefly 7th grade is studying information about expeditions here from Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. For example, teachers talk about how in 1619 Jacob d'Erdel and Frederic de Houtman set out on two ships to explore the Australian coast. As they moved north, they discovered a strip of reefs called Houtman Rock.

Continuing research

After this expedition, other Dutch sailors repeatedly found themselves on these shores, calling the land New Holland. They did not even try to explore the coast, since they did not find any commercial interest here.

Beautiful coastline even if it aroused their curiosity, it clearly did not stimulate them to study what useful resources Australia has. The history of the country briefly describes the exploration of the northern and western coasts. The Dutch concluded that the northern lands were infertile and unsuitable for use. The sailors did not see eastern and southern shores, therefore Australia was unfairly considered uninteresting for use.

First buildings

In the summer of 1629, the East India Company ship Batavia found itself at Houtman Rocks due to a shipwreck. Soon there was a mutiny, as a result of which part of the crew built a small fort for protection. It became the first European building in Australia. Geographers suggest that at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, about fifty European ships reached the territory of Australia.

The history of the exploration and settlement of Australia briefly tells about the discoveries made by ships. In 1642, he tried to circumnavigate New Holland from the south, and discovered an island called Van Diemen's Land. After some time it was renamed Tasmania. With subsequent advancement to the east, after some time, the ships ended up near New Zealand. Tasman's first voyage was not successful; the travelers failed to get closer to Australia.

The history of Australia briefly tells us that only in 1644 Tasman was able to study the north-west coast in detail, to prove that all the lands that were discovered and analyzed in earlier expeditions were components one continent.

English Studies

The history of Australia briefly notes the English contribution to its research. Until the second half of the seventeenth century, there was practically no information in England about the lands that were discovered by Dutch travelers. In 1688, a pirate ship carrying the Englishman William Dampier found itself on the northwest coast, near Lake Melville. This fact has been preserved by the history of Australia. Briefly, the surviving records say that after repairs the ship returned to England. Here Dampier published a story about the journey, which aroused genuine interest among the English Admiralty.

In 1699, Dampier set out on a second voyage to the coast of Australia on the ship Roebuck. But during this trip he did not find anything interesting, so the Admiralty decided to stop funding the expedition.

Cook's Expedition

When telling the history of the discovery of Australia, one cannot ignore the expedition of 1170, led by Lieutenant James Cook. On the sailing ship "Attempt" his team went to southern part Pacific Ocean. The official purpose of the expedition was to make astronomical observations, but in fact Cook received tasks from the Admiralty to study the southern part of the continent. Cook believed that since New Holland has a western coast, it follows that there must be an eastern one.

At the end of April 1770, an English expedition landed on east coast Australia. The landing site was first called Stingray Bay, then it was renamed Botany Bay because of the unusual plants that were found there.

The discovered lands were named New Wales by Cook, and then the New Englishman did not even realize how large-scale the discovery he had made was.

British colonies

They decided to colonize the lands that Cook discovered, using them as the first colonies for convicts. The fleet, led by Captain Arthur Philip, included 11 ships. He arrived in Australia in January 1788, but, recognizing the region as inconvenient for settlement, they moved north. Governor Philip issued an order that created the first British colony in Australia. The soils around Sydney Harbor were not suitable for farming, so farms were established near the Parramatta River.

The second fleet, which arrived in Australia in 1790, brought various materials and supplies here. During the voyage, 278 convicts and crew members died, which is why history calls it the “Deadly Fleet.”

In 1827, a small British settlement was built at King Georges Sound by Major Edmund Lockyer. He became the first governor of a colony created for convicts.

South Australia was founded in 1836. It was not intended for convicts, but some former prisoners moved here from other colonies.

Conclusion

It was developed almost fifty thousand years before its official discovery European travelers. For centuries, people with their own unique culture and religion lived in the arid deserts and tropical jungles of the continent. After the colonization of the Australian coast, a period of active exploration of the territory began. Among the first serious researchers who managed to study the beds of the Macquarie and Lochlan rivers, geographers call John Oxley. Robert Burke became the first Englishman to cross the mainland from north to south. The discovery of Australia was the result of centuries-long searches by the Dutch, Portuguese, and British of the southern country.

In 2006, archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in Australia. This fact led to the formulation of an original hypothesis about the discovery of a contingent by the Egyptians.

Scientists have agreed that the most likely time for the discovery of Australia can be considered 1606. It was then that the famous Dutchman V. Janszoon explored the northeastern part - the Cape York Peninsula.

The history of the settlement of Australia is briefly outlined in this material. She is still associated with numerous riddles, which scientists still have to solve. For example, cannons discovered during archaeological excavations suggest that the Portuguese visited this territory in the fifteenth century. Full map The British colony that was Australia was only compiled by scientists at the beginning of the last century.

Captain James Cook is an English traveler and famous cartographer. He was born in 1728, into a poor family living in North Yorkshire, in the north of England. At the age of 13, he was already working alongside his father as a farm manager.

In 1745 he began working in a grocery store. But the seller soon discovered that he was completely incapable of trading. He took James to the nearest port in Whitby and introduced him to the Walker brothers, owners of several ships. This is where the biography of James Cook as a great navigator begins.

His first position was as a cabin boy at the Freelove coal miner. The ship sailed along the English coast, transporting coal. The future traveler became so interested in maritime affairs that he independently took up geometry, algebra, astronomy and navigation. His training came to an end after three years, and he began sailing with ships in the Baltic Sea. His abilities helped him quickly move up the career ladder.

James Cook's travels began when, in 1755, the Walkers invited him to become captain of their ship Friendship. But he refused, deciding to join the Royal Navy. At this time, the British army was in full swing preparing for the Seven Years' War, and he saw great prospects for himself in this area. However, this meant starting his entire career anew - as a simple sailor. Cook was assigned as a deckhand on the Eagle and very quickly rose to mate. By 1757, he passed the exams that allowed him to control the ship himself.

Cook's brilliant career in the Royal Navy began with drawing up the fairway of the St. Lawrence River in order to ensure the passage of the British through it and the capture of Quebec, then owned by the French. He proved himself to be an excellent cartographer and navigator. In the 1760s he continued his cartography work, charting the unknown shores of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River. His work attracted the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society.

In 1756, he was assigned to go to the Pacific Ocean to observe the passage of Venus across the solar disk. The following year, Cook left the shores of England, rounded Cape Horn and by April 1759 reached the shores of Haiti, where it was planned to conduct observations. Unfortunately, for technical reasons these observations were highly inaccurate. But the navigator mapped the exact shores of New Zealand.

Then he moved on and in 1770 reached the shores of Australia. Thus, the navigator became the first European to discover a hitherto unknown continent. The discovery of Australia by James Cook was a breakthrough for England in the development of colonies and a worthy response to the Spaniards and Portuguese.

Having received a hole, the Endevior ship made a forced stop at Australian mainland. When the repair work was completed, Cook sent the ship along the Bolshoi Barrier Reef and soon discovered the strait between Australia and New Guinea. The expedition returned to England in 1771.

Soon after his return, he was again asked to set sail. The fact is that the British were eager to find the Southern continent, the mythical Terra Australis (Antarctica) - despite the fact that James Cook had already discovered Australia, it was assumed that there was another continent further south.

Cook was now in command of the ship Resolution. The second expedition again made trip around the world. The two ships sank the lowest in southern latitude, but did not reach Antarctica - supplies on the ship were running low, people were suffering from scurvy, and he had to turn back. Upon returning to England, he convinced everyone that there was no Southern Continent.

After James Cook discovered Australia in April 1770, he had one more journey ahead, his last... The explorer was tasked with finding the Northwest Passage, which probably crosses North America and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He was again entrusted with command of the Resolution ship, and Charles Klekr set off with him on the Discovery.

Since the British hid their search expeditions in every possible way, this time the pretext was the return of one resident of Tahiti, captured during the second expedition, to his homeland. During the third voyage great traveler became the first European to visit Hawaii.

From there he sailed to the West Coast North America- this one journey of James Cook made it possible to map almost the entire coast of North America, including Alaska, which, in turn, filled in the gaps in the maps of Russian and Spanish explorers.

The Bering Strait seemed impassable to him, despite several attempts made. This fact completely unsettled him, he developed a stomach ache and strange behavior. For example, he forced his team to eat walrus meat, which was completely inedible. He returned to Hawaii in 1779. The return coincided with the islanders' seasonal celebrations in honor of one of the gods - and the explorer James Cook, with his ships at the ready, was perceived as a deity incarnate.

After staying on the islands for a month, the ships set out to sea again, but halfway through the journey the Resolution's foremast broke and they had to return. The return was unexpected, since the celebrations had already ended. This led to unrest among local residents. Thefts of property from the ship began. After an entire boat went missing, Cook was furious. He decided to capture the local leader and not return him until all his belongings were returned. By that time, a rumor had spread among the Hawaiians that other British had already killed one of the chiefs.

The conflict between sailors and Hawaiians that occurred on the shore led to an armed clash. Here the biography of James Cook ends - when the British began to retreat, he turned his back to the crowd, received a blow to the head with a spear, fell and was beaten to death. The Hawaiians took his body with them. As a sign of retaliation, the British bombed and burned a Hawaiian village. In response to the demand to hand over the captain's body, they were returned only a few pieces of meat and the head of the great navigator.

The death of James Cook was a great loss for the expedition. Charles Clerk made one last attempt to navigate the Bering Strait, but also failed. While sailing back to England he died of tuberculosis. Third circumnavigation Cook was completed by James King, bringing both ships to England in 1780.

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