FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Fun Trivia
Home: Questions and Answers Forum
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
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

Goto Qn #


Did Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, when naming New-Zealand "Staten Land", REALLY believe they were the Staten Land off the southern end of South America?

Question #151443. Asked by chabenao1.
Last updated Jul 20 2024.
Originally posted Jul 20 2024 1:16 AM.

avatar
1nn1 star
Answer has 3 votes
Currently Best Answer
1nn1 star
13 year member
171 replies avatar

Answer has 3 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Jacob Le Maire (c. 1585 - 1616) was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the Earth in 1615 and 1616. The strait between Tierra del Fuego on the Southern tip of South America and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honour, though controversially by Le Maire himself. He and his fellow sailors had no clue of the extent of the land on the south side of the strait. They called this unseen land Staten Land.
In 1642-43, when Abel Tasman sailed along part of the western shores of what was to be called eventually New Zealand, Tasman speculated that it might be joined to Le Maire's Staten Land and accordingly named it Staten Landt.

In 1644 Tasman sailed along the north coast of Australia and his Dutch masters based in Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) compiled a composite map that shows large portions of Australia known after Dutch discoveries, including the (now) Tasmanian and continental north coast. This was called "Compagnis Niev Nederland" ( "Company's New Netherland", the "Company" being the Dutch East India Company). The name became "Nieuw Holland", meaning New Holland, became a standard appellation for the Australian continent. Soon after the name "Zeelandia Nova" - the Latin equivalent of the Dutch "Nieuw Zeeland" and the English "New Zealand" - appeared for the parts of New Zealand discovered by Tasman. (Zeeland is a maritime province in The Netherlands. So Nieuw Zeeland and in due course its English equivalent replaced the unsatisfactory Staten Land. Presumably, Tasman believed he had reached "Staten Land" but was soon disabused of this belief by his masters within a year.

link https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/new-zealand-naming-of/page-2#:~:text=NEW%20ZEALAND%2C%20NAMING%20OF&text=In%201642%E2%80%9343%2C%20when%20Abel,accordingly%20named%20it%20Staten%20Landt.

Jul 20 2024, 6:48 AM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

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

Related FunTrivia Quizzes

play quiz The Isle of Staten
(New York City)
play quiz Staten Island History
(New York)
play quiz Landmarks of Staten Island
(Mixed Sites in North America)

Return to FunTrivia
"Ask FunTrivia" strives to offer the best answers possible to trivia questions. We ask our submitters to thoroughly research questions and provide sources where possible. Feel free to post corrections or additions. This is server B184.