Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions

Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Who named Australia?

Question #151143. Asked by odo5435.
Last updated May 30 2024.
Originally posted May 22 2024 5:29 AM.

pehinhota

Answer has 5 votes

Currently Best Answer

pehinhota

11 year member
428 replies avatar

Answer has 5 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.

The name Australia is derived from the Latin word australis, which means 'southern'.

This word, australis, was first used nearly two thousand years ago in the name of an imaginary land called Terra Australis Incognito-the Unknown Southern Land.
The first recorded use of the word Australia was by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1606.
The Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman charted the coast in 1644 and called the place New Holland.
The name New Holland was in common usage for the southern land until the mid-1850s.
When the British first established a settlement in 1788 they claimed all the land up to 135th meridian east longitude and named it New South Wales. The rest was still called New Holland.
In 1803 the English explorer Matthew Flinders was the first to circumnavigate and map the entire continent. He suggested that the whole continent by called Australia.
Finally, in 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be officially called Australia.
The official name for the country of Australia is the Commonwealth of Australia.
The original names for Australia Australia included Terra Australis, New South Wales and New Holland. These old names were dropped in 1824.

https://trishansoz.com/trishansoz/australia/how-did-australia-get-its-name.html

Response last updated by gtho4 on May 30 2024.
May 22 2024, 5:47 AM

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion

Who named Australia?

Other Similar Questions & Answers

Related FunTrivia Quizzes