The meaning of the discovery of Australia, what happened at. Who discovered Australia and in what year? Who discovered Australia

50 thousand years before its discovery by European sailors. In the arid deserts, tropical jungles and coastal plains of this continent, people with their own rich traditions of culture, religion and original lifestyle have lived for centuries. By the time Australia was discovered by James Cook, the continent's indigenous population numbered over 300 thousand people who spoke 500 languages. And now Australia, whose continent was discovered twice before the world understood its full significance for the global economy and culture, continues to reveal the mysteries of its thousand-year history.

History of discoveries

The discovery of Australia is the result of centuries-long searches by the Portuguese, Dutch and British for the southern country (terra australis incognita). In 2006, archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in Australia, which gave rise to the hypothesis among some scientists that the Egyptians were the first to discover this continent 5,000 years ago.

If we take recent history, scientists agree that the year of discovery of Australia is 1606. It was in this year that the Dutchman V. Janszoon studied the northeastern part of Australia - the Cape York Peninsula.

But the history of the discovery of Australia is filled with numerous mysteries that scientists have yet to solve. Thus, the cannons found by archaeologists give reason to some researchers to believe that back in the 16th century. The Portuguese visited Australia, but there is no evidence of this in documentary sources yet.

Exploring "New Holland"

The entire 17th century is the story of the discovery and exploration of Australia by sea travelers from the Netherlands, who first called it New Holland.

After the aforementioned Janszon, in 1616 D. Hartog described part of the western coast of the continent, in 1623 J. Carstensz compiled a map of the western coast of the York Peninsula, and in 1627 the southern coast of the still unknown continent was explored by F. Theisen and P. Neates.

The main ruler of the Netherlands Indies, Anton Van Diemen, in 1642 sent the famous navigator A. Tasman on an expedition, who discovered the land named after Van Diemen (modern Tasman Island). On January 29, 1644, a new expedition headed by Tasman set sail. The expedition proved that New Holland is a separate continent.

For Holland, the discovery of Australia did not seem worthy of much attention, since it already had convenient naval bases in southern Africa and Java, and the island itself did not grow expensive oriental spices, which were valued on European markets. Nothing also indicated the presence of mineral deposits here; animal species that could have aroused interest among the Europeans of that time had not yet been discovered.

British exploration of the Australian continent

More than half a century passed before English explorers and travelers continued the exploration of the mainland after the Dutch. Thus, the expedition of V. Dampier managed to study the northwestern part of Australia in more detail and discovered previously unknown islands in this area.

And in 1770, the “next” discovery of Australia took place - this time by James Cook.

After Cook, the discovery and exploration of Australia by the British continued: in 1798, D. Bass discovered a strait between the mainland and the island of Tasmania; in 1797 - 1803, M. Flinders walked the continent and drew up a map with more accurate outlines of its southern coast. It was Flinders who came up with the proposal in 1814 to change the name "New Holland" to "Australia", and by the 1840s F. King and D. Wicken completed the study and mapping of the Australian coastline.

The 19th century brought new geographical discoveries to Australia by travelers and researchers from different countries, but within the continent. As a result, the Great Dividing Range with the highest point of the continent, Mount Kosciuszko, appeared on the map of Australia; deserts, endless plains, as well as Darling and Murray are the deepest.

A complete map of the British colony, which was Australia, was compiled by English scientists at the beginning of the twentieth century.

James Cook and his contribution to the study of Australia

James Cook was born in 1728 into a farmer's family from North Yorkshire. But not living up to his father’s hopes, he became a cabin boy at the Freelove coal miner in 1745. James was fascinated by maritime affairs, and he began to independently study astronomy, algebra, geometry and navigation, and his innate abilities contributed to his career growth: already in 1755 he received an offer to take the place of captain on the Friendship ship. But James decided to enlist in the Royal Navy, where he again began serving as an ordinary sailor. Cook quickly rose to the rank of mate, and already in 1757 he passed the exams for the right to control the ship independently.

James Cook

In 1768, Cook set out on an expedition that was supposed to observe the passage of Venus across the solar disk, as well as discover new lands for the British crown. It is believed that in 1770, during this trip around the world on the ship Endeavour, James Cook discovered Australia. Then he was forced to make a stop on a hitherto unknown continent due to the resulting hole. Having repaired the ship, Cook sent it along the Great Barrier Reef, opening a hitherto unknown strait between Australia and New Guinea.

But the discovery of Australia did not stop Cook in search of hitherto unexplored lands. Returning to England in 1771, a few years later he again set sail in search of the Southern continent - the mythical Terra Australis (Antarctica). The conditions of this trip did not allow Cook to reach Antarctica, and upon returning to England he convinced everyone that the Southern Continent simply did not exist.

The material presented in the article is aimed at forming an idea of ​​who is the discoverer of the continent. The article contains reliable historical information. The information will help you obtain true information from the history of the discovery of Australia by sailors and travelers.

Who discovered Australia?

Every educated person today knows that the discovery of Australia by James Cook occurred when he visited the east coast of the continent in 1770. However, these lands were known in Europe long before the famous English navigator appeared there.

Rice. 1. James Cook.

The ancestors of the indigenous population of the mainland appeared on the continent approximately 40-60 thousand years ago. This historical segment dates back to ancient archaeological finds that were discovered by scientists in the upper reaches of the Swan River at the western tip of the mainland.

Rice. 2. Swan River.

It is known that people ended up on the continent thanks to sea routes. This fact also indicates that it was these pioneers who became the earliest sea travelers. It is generally accepted that at that time at least three heterogeneous groups settled in Australia.

Explorers of Australia

There is an assumption that the discoverers of Australia were the ancient Egyptians.

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From history we know that Australia was discovered several times by different people:

• Egyptians;
• Dutch Admiral Willem Janszoon;
• James Cook.

The latter is recognized as the official discoverer of the continent for humanity. All these versions are still controversial and contradictory. There is no clear point of view on this issue.

During research carried out on the Australian mainland, images of insects similar in appearance to scarabs were found. And during archaeological research in Egypt, researchers discovered mummies that were embalmed using eucalyptus oil.

Despite such clear evidence, many historians express reasonable doubts about this version, since the continent became famous in Europe much later.

Attempts to discover Australia were made by the world's navigators back in the 16th century. Many Australian researchers assume that the first Europeans to set foot on the continent were the Portuguese.

It is known that in 1509, sailors from Portugal visited the Moluccas, after which in 1522 they moved to the northwest of the mainland.

At the beginning of the 20th century, naval guns that were created back in the 16th century were found in this area.

The unofficial version of the discovery of Australia is the one that states that the discoverer of the continent is the Dutch admiral Willem Janszoon. He was never able to understand that he had become the discoverer of new lands, because he believed that he was getting closer to the lands of New Guinea.

Rice. 3. Willem Janszoon.

However, the main history of Australian exploration is attributed to James Cook. It was after his travels to unknown lands that the active conquest of the mainland by Europeans began.

It is known for certain that Cook went on a voyage around the world and ended up in “distant lands.” In 1770, his expedition reached the coast of the mainland. Officially, this date of the discovery of Australia is recognized as historically accurate. Total ratings received: 107.

Australia is the smallest continent on our planet. During the Middle Ages, there were legends about it, and Europeans called it “the unknown southern land” (Terra Australis Incognita).


Any schoolchild knows that humanity owes the discovery of the continent to the English sailor James Cook, who visited the east coast of Australia in 1770. But in fact, the mainland was known in Europe long before Cook appeared. Who discovered it? And when did this event happen?

When did the first people appear in Australia?

The ancestors of the current indigenous population appeared in Australia approximately 40–60 thousand years ago. It is from this period that the most ancient archaeological finds discovered by researchers in the upper reaches of the Swan River in the western part of the mainland date back.

It is believed that humans arrived on the continent by sea, making them the earliest sea travelers. To this day it is unknown where the Australian aborigines came from, but it is believed that at that time at least three heterogeneous populations settled in Australia.

Who visited Australia before the Europeans?

There is an opinion that the discoverers of Australia were the ancient Egyptians, who brought eucalyptus oil from the continent.


During research on Australian territory, drawings of insects that looked like scarabs were discovered, and during archaeological excavations in Egypt, scientists found mummies embalmed with oil from Australian eucalyptus trees.

Despite such clear evidence, many historians doubt this version, since the continent became famous in Europe much later.

Who was the first European to visit Australia?

Attempts to discover Australia were made by navigators back in the 16th century. Many scientists believe that the first Europeans to visit the continent were the Portuguese. It is believed that in 1509 they visited the Moluccas, from where in 1522 they moved to the northwestern coast of the mainland.

At the beginning of the 20th century, cannons made in the 16th century were found in this area, which presumably belonged to Portuguese sailors.

This version has not been conclusively proven, so today it is indisputable that the discoverer of Australia was the Dutch admiral Willem Janszoon.

In November 1605, he set out on his ship "Dyfken" from the Indonesian city of Bantam and headed towards New Guinea, and three months later landed on the northwestern coast of Australia, on the Cape York Peninsula. As part of his expedition, Janszon explored about 320 km of coastline and compiled a detailed map of it.

Interestingly, the admiral never realized that he had discovered Australia. He considered the found lands to be part of New Guinea and gave them the name “New Holland”. After Janszoon, another Dutch navigator visited Australia, Abel Tasman, who discovered the islands of New Zealand and mapped the Australian western coast.

Thus, thanks to the Dutch sailors, by the middle of the 17th century the outlines of Australia were clearly marked on all geographical maps.

Who discovered Australia according to the official version?

And yet, most scientists continue to consider James Cook as the discoverer, since it was after his visit that Europeans began to actively explore the continent. The brave young lieutenant set out in search of the “unknown southern land” as part of a trip around the world in 1768.

According to the official version, the purpose of his journey was to study the passage of Venus through, but in fact he had secret instructions to head to southern latitudes and find Terra Australis Incognita.

Departing from Plymouth on the ship Endeavor, in April 1769 Cook reached the coast of Tahiti, and a year later, in April 1770, he approached the eastern shores of Australia. After that, he visited the continent twice more. During his third expedition in 1778, Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which became the place of his death.


Unable to get along with the Hawaiians, the lieutenant tried to capture one of the local chiefs, but was killed in the fight, presumably by a spear blow to the back of the head.

We present to your attention a chapter from the book “History of Australia” by K.V. Malakhovsky, published in 1980. The original chapter in the book does not contain any illustrations, so to make the reading more imaginative, we have added a few illustrations. (Approx. AussieTeller)

It is paradoxical, but it is a fact that the Australian continent, almost equal in area to the United States of America (without Alaska), was discovered by Europeans later than the small island groups of Oceania. Although ancient cartographers were sure of the existence of the Southern Land, or Terra Australis.

1570 map by Abraham Ortelius showing the Unknown Southern Land - "Terra Australis Nondum Cognita" - as a large continent at the bottom of the map, as well as the Arctic continent

When the Spaniards established themselves in America, they, excited by the Inca legends about the richest land located in the southern part of the Great Ocean, began to send their ships there. The expeditions of A. de Mendaña in 1567 and 1595, P. de Quiros in 1605 discovered new lands, but not the mainland, but small archipelagos: the Solomon and Marquesas Islands, the New Hebrides.

Alvaro Mendaña de Neyra (Spanish: Álvaro de Mendaña de Neyra; 1541 - October 18, 1595) - Spanish navigator. Adelantado.

One of the ships of Quiros, commanded by L. de Torres, on the way back, under the influence of the monsoons, deviated to the southwest and, bypassing the Great Barrier Reef, passed through the strait separating New Guinea from Australia and later named after him.

But the first Europeans to approach the Australian mainland were not the Spaniards or the Portuguese, who dominated during the 15th-16th centuries. on the Pacific Ocean, and the Dutch. This happened at the beginning of the 17th century.
By this time, the Dutch and British had ended the maritime colonial dominance of Portugal and Spain, including in the Pacific Ocean. By the beginning of the 70s of the 16th century. Of all the Asian colonies, Goa, Daman and Diu in India and Macau in China remained in the hands of Portugal. Spanish power in Southeast Asia and Oceania by that time extended only to the Philippines and the islands of Micronesia.

In 1595, the first Dutch expedition to India was organized, consisting of four ships. The Dutch lost half their ships and a third of their crews, but were convinced that it was possible to reach the shores of India. In 1598, a second expedition (seven ships) set off for India. It was a great success: all the ships returned with a rich cargo of spices. In the same year, the Dutch established a foothold on the island of Java and created trading posts there, relying on which they gradually monopolized trade with the countries of South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Far East. In 1601, 40 Dutch ships already set off for India.
Convinced of the profitability of such enterprises, Dutch merchants in March 1602 created a society for trade with India - the Dutch East India Trading Company. The company received such rights and privileges that it became a kind of state within a state. She not only had a monopoly on trade with India, but also had the right to appoint officials to this country, wage war and make peace, mint coins, build cities and fortresses, and form colonies. The company's capital was enormous by the scale of that time. If the British East India Company began its activities in 1600 with a capital of 72 thousand pounds. Art., which equaled 864 thousand guilders, then the capital of the Dutch East India Company amounted to 6.6 million guilders.

Willem Janszoon is officially considered the first European to reach the shores of Australia on the ship "Duyfken"

From the very first steps of its activity, the Dutch East India Company energetically began searching for the Southern Land. One of the company's ships, led by Captain V. Janszon, circled New Guinea from the south and reached the coast of Australia near the peninsula now called Cape York. Sailors who landed on shore in search of water and food were killed by local residents. Janszon hastened to leave these inhospitable shores and in June 1606 returned to Batavia (modern name Jakarta).

The ship's log of the expedition led by V. Janszon has not survived. It is clear that the captain's message about open ground was not encouraging. In the books of the East India Company there is a brief but very expressive entry: “Nothing good can be done there.” Over the next half century, this phrase was repeated more than once by company leaders.

The Gulf of Carpentaria on a Dutch map of 1859 by Otto Petri of Rotterdam

Dutch sailors began to go to their possessions in Southeast Asia in a slightly different way than the Portuguese and Spaniards, whose ships sailed from the Cape of Good Hope along the coast of Africa to the equator, and then to the east. The Dutch chose a shorter route. In 1611, Captain H. Brower, having traveled 4 thousand miles east from the Cape of Good Hope, then turned north, which reduced the time of passage from Holland to Batavia from eighteen months to six.

The Directorate of the East India Company in Amsterdam officially approved this course for its ships. This helped the Dutch discover the Southern Continent and explore its western and northwestern coasts. Feedback from Dutch sailors about the new land was discouraging.

In 1623, a Dutch ship under the command of J. Carstenz, repeating Janszoon's route, entered a large bay on the northern coast of Australia. Carstenz named it the Gulf of Carpentaria, in honor of the then Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies, P. de Carpenter. In the report on the voyage, the captain wrote: “We did not see a single fruit-bearing tree, nothing that a person could use for himself... The inhabitants are pitiful and poor creatures...”.

In 1636, A. Van Diemen became governor-general of Batavia, who sought to expand Dutch possessions in the South Seas. His determination and perseverance were highly valued and encouraged by the leadership of the Dutch East India Company. On September 16, 1638, the company's board of directors wrote to Van Diemen: "Your Lordship is acting wisely, paying great attention to the discovery of the South Land and gold-bearing islands, which would be very useful to the company." By order of Van Diemen, two ships under the command of Captain A. Tasman left Batavia in August 1642 and set off to explore “the remaining unknown part of the globe.”

Sailing southeast from the island of Mauritius, the expedition reached an unknown island, which was called Van Diemen's Land (the modern name is Tasmania). Continuing his voyage, Tasman approached the shores of New Zealand. He mistook it for the Southern Continent. The next year, Tasman explored the northern part of the Australian mainland, but did not find anything attractive there for the East India Company, especially gold and silver. As a result, the company lost interest in further exploration of the South Seas.

The next European to visit the shores of Australia, or, as they said then, New Holland, was the Englishman W. Dampier.

William Dampier (William Dampier, English William Dampier; 1651 - March 1715) - English navigator and pirate. Considered one of the most famous pirates in history. He contributed to the study of winds and currents, publishing several books on this topic. Member of the British Royal Society. Portrait painted by Thomas Murray

In the second half of the 17th century. in three naval wars (1652-1654; 1665-1667; 1672-1674), England inflicted crushing defeats on Holland, reducing it to the position of a minor European country. Having become a powerful trading and maritime power in the world, England is firmly establishing itself in the Pacific arena.

In January 1688, W. Dampier reached the shores of Australia and stayed there for three months. The following year he was sent to the Southern Continent for the second time. This time Dampier explored the northwestern part of the continent, but a lack of drinking water forced Dampier to interrupt his work and turn the ship towards the island of Timor.

Map of part of New Netherland - northwestern Australia, Sharks Bay, made by William Dampier in 1699

If the Europeans, in essence, knew nothing about Tasman’s voyages, since the Dutch East India Company tried to keep them secret, believing that in the future the Dutch might need the lands they had discovered, then Dampier’s expeditions to the shores of New Holland became widely known, because The English navigator wrote two books: “A New Voyage Around the World” and “A Voyage to New Holland.” Both of them were a great success and were reprinted many times. “The inhabitants of this country,” wrote Dampier in the book “A New Voyage Around the World,” “are the most unfortunate people on earth... they have no houses, clothes... livestock and fruits of the earth... and, outwardly resembling human beings, have little different from animals."

The beginning of British colonization in the South Seas was laid by the voyage of J. Cook.

Strange as it may sound, the planet Venus played a certain role in the discovery of the eastern coasts of Australia and, by the way, New Zealand by the British. The fact is that, according to astronomers’ calculations, on June 3, 1769, Venus was supposed to pass by the solar disk. To better observe the planet, the Royal Society for the Advancement of Natural Sciences of London asked the British government to send a group of astronomers to the South Seas. Having received a refusal, the society turned directly to the king, who approved the plan. J. Cook, who had just returned from Newfoundland, was appointed leader of the expedition. This man was not only an experienced sailor, but also had knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.

The king's decision to send a warship to the Pacific Ocean was not dictated by a desire to please astronomers. This became clear to Cook when, on August 26, 1768, while on board a ship sailing along the Thames to Plymouth, he opened a carefully sealed package from the Admiralty. “There is reason to believe,” the order said, “that a continent or land of enormous size lies south of the path recently traversed by Captain Wallis on His Majesty’s ship the Dolphin, or from the paths of any other, earlier sailors... Therefore, you execution of his Majesty's will is ordered to set sail... immediately after completing the observations of Venus, and to be guided by the following instructions. To effect the discovery of the above-mentioned continent, you must sail south until you reach the latitude of 40°, and if, having done so, you will not discover it... then you must continue your search to the west, between the latitude previously mentioned and the latitude of 35 °, until you find it or meet the eastern side of the land discovered by Tasman and now called New Zealand."

First (red), second (green color) And third (blue) Cook's expedition

The Admiralty further ordered: to explore the shores of New Zealand, draw up a map of the islands, study minerals, soil, flora and fauna, collect samples of seeds and fruits, and also declare the land the possession of the British king, having achieved the consent of the local population, and in that case, if it is not there, leave “visible signs and inscriptions as discoverers and owners.”

On April 13, 1769, Cook arrived in Tahiti, and on June 3, astronomical observations of Venus were successfully carried out. Cook then, following orders from the Admiralty, sailed his ship south in search of the Southern Continent.

On October 7, 1769, N. Jung, the ship's surgeon's servant, was the first to see a white cape among the waves of the ocean. The next day the ship entered the bay and anchored near the mouth of a small river, on the banks of which the New Zealand city of Gisborne is now located. The local Maori residents, sensing evil, greeted the newcomers with hostility. In the ensuing battle, several Aborigines were killed. Cook, like Tasman, was convinced of the courage of the Maori, who were not afraid of either the muskets or cannons of the Europeans.

Despite the obvious disapproval of the inhabitants, Cook, scrupulously following the instructions of the Admiralty, strengthened the staff with the English flag at the site of his landing and declared New Zealand the property of the British crown. In March 1770, Cook completed his exploration of the coast of New Zealand. In April, his ship entered Australian waters.
On April 19, 1770, the shores of Australia opened to the eyes of the British. “I named this place Hicks,” J. Cook wrote in his diary, “because Lieutenant Hicks was the first to see this land.” Cook walked north along the coast until he reached a place he called Botany Bay, because the botanists who took part in the expedition discovered there a large number of previously unknown species of plants, birds and animals.

Botany or Botany Bay (English Botany Bay, formerly sometimes Botanist Bay) is a bay of the Tasman Sea off the eastern coast of Australia, 8 km south of the center of Sydney, discovered by James Cook on April 29, 1770. J. Cook gave the name to the bay in honor of his friends - explorers and partners on the first trip around the world on the ship Endeavor. These are botanists Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, who studied and described many plants unfamiliar to Europeans on the shores of the bay. They also described animals, primarily marsupials.

On April 29, 1760, the sailors landed on shore. Local residents showered them with a hail of stones and spears, and the British responded with volleys of gunfire. “Thus,” the modern Australian historian M. Clark sadly notes, “the European began his tragic communication with the aborigines of the eastern coast.” Until May 6, J. Cook explored the areas of Botany Bay, and then continued his voyage. Coming north of Cape York, he became convinced that the continent he had discovered was separated from New Guinea by a strait. J. Cook declared it the property of the British crown. Having gone ashore on one of the Torres Strait islands, called Possession, Cook hoisted the British flag on it and announced that from now on the power of the British sovereign extended to the entire eastern coast of the mainland from 38° south latitude to Possession Island. At these words, the sailors standing next to him fired three volleys from their guns; The ship responded with cannon fire. The eastern part of Australia, called New South Wales by Cook, became the property of the British Crown.

European navigators, discovering new lands and declaring them the property of their monarchs, did not particularly think about the origin and history of the peoples inhabiting them. They simply stated the fact of the presence of human beings there, who were at the lowest level in their development. Cook looked at the local residents with slightly different eyes. “At first, when I saw the natives of New Holland,” he wrote, “they impressed me as the most pitiful people on earth; but in fact... they are much happier than the Europeans, because they are unfamiliar not only with excesses, but also with the necessary amenities, so common in Europe... They live in peace, which is not disturbed by the inequality of their situation. The land and sea “supply them with everything necessary for life. They do not dream of magnificent houses, domestic servants, etc.; they live in a warm and wonderful climate and enjoy healthy air... It seems to me that they believe that they have everything necessary for life."

James Cook declares the eastern third of Australia the property of the British Crown and gives it the name "New South Wales"

Even in the earliest period of European colonization of Australia and Oceania, bourgeois scientists put forward a “theory” about the inferiority of the aborigines, their organic inability for progressive development, which greatly helped in the “development” of occupied lands, often associated with the mass extermination of the indigenous population.
Nowadays, science has data that allows us to assert that the lag in the development of the indigenous people of Australia before the arrival of Europeans is explained by objective socio-historical conditions. “A comprehensive study of the original culture of the aborigines of Australia,” writes Soviet researcher V.R. Kabo, “testifies that in general, despite the preservation of some archaic elements, it has continuously developed over many millennia. And although the Australians ... had the opportunity to experience a deep cultural crisis associated mainly with catastrophic changes in natural conditions, the development of their culture continued, albeit at a slower pace."

Tasmanian (last purebred Tasmanian - William Lunn or "King Billy" - died 3 March 1869)

As shown by archaeological discoveries in Southeast Asia and Australia in the 50-60s of our century, the settlement of Australia began at least 30 thousand years ago, in the Paleolithic era, when the fifth continent was connected with Southeast Asia by continental bridges, the Asian and the Australian continental shelves and the straits between them were not an insurmountable obstacle even for people who had extremely primitive means of navigation.

The natural-geographical conditions that existed at that time favored the development and settlement by people of the Australian continent, including its internal regions, which turned into deserts and semi-deserts only during the period of thermal maximum, i.e. from 7 thousand to 4 thousand years ago. The dramatic change in the environment led to a significant regression of Australian culture. This was facilitated by the profound isolation of Australians from the outside world.

Tasmanian (Last purebred Tasmanian - Truganini - died 8 May 1976)

The arrival of Europeans not only did not contribute to the cultural development of the Australian aborigines, but, on the contrary, was a new and difficult test for them, which can only be compared with a natural disaster of enormous destructive power. Many thousands of Aborigines were killed. The colonialists pushed the indigenous people out of the coastal areas into the deserts and thereby doomed them to extinction. If by the arrival of the British the total number of the aboriginal population reached 300 thousand people, then two hundred years later their number does not exceed 150 thousand, including mestizos.

Australia is the smallest and furthest continent from Eurasia. During the Middle Ages it was called Terra Australis Incognita, which translated meant “unknown southern land.” Who discovered the mainland of Australia, and in what year did this happen?

Official version

Humanity became aware of the new territory thanks to the traveler and navigator James Cook. His goals included studying the passage of Venus through the solar disk. It is assumed that the real reason for Cook's trip was the search for uncharted lands in the southern latitudes of Terra Australis Incognita. He set out on a trip around the world and discovered distant lands, reaching the coast of the mainland in 1770. This date is considered historically accurate. But the existence of a piece of land “at the ends of the earth” was known much earlier. In addition, there were human settlements there. It is difficult to determine the date of their foundation; approximately it happened 40 - 60 thousand years ago. Artifacts found in western Australia on the Swan River date back to that period.

Who discovered the mainland of Australia in prehistoric times?

Scientists suggest that the first travelers to travel to land by ocean were the ancient Egyptians. They brought eucalyptus oil from these regions.

This version is confirmed by cave paintings with insects similar to Egyptian sacred scarabs. In addition, mummies were found in tombs in Egypt, embalming them with oil from eucalyptus trees grown in Australia.

However, all these theories are not officially accepted, since the existence of a continent lost in the sea in Europe became known much later.

Who first discovered Australia?

Attempts to reach the continent were made several times. In the 16th century, the Portuguese set off on the sea route. In 1509 they reached the Moluccas, and in 1522 they found themselves on the northwestern coast. These dates are considered to be the first time the continent was founded by Europeans.

There is also a hypothesis that Australia was discovered by Admiral Willem Janszoon, who arrived on the continent on behalf of the Dutch authorities. He undertook a campaign in 1605. The ship Dyfken was equipped for this purpose. He followed the direction of New Guinea and after three months of travel reached the Cape York Peninsula. The navigator compiled a detailed map of the coast with a length of 320 km. He did not even suspect that he had discovered a new continent, considering the lands to be the territories of New Guinea. Therefore they were given the name "New Holland".

Abel Tasman sailed after him to the mainland. He explored the islands on the west coast and plotted their outlines on the world map. One of the islands, Tasmania, is named after the discoverer.

Thus, by the 17th century, thanks to the efforts of Dutch travelers, the position of the continent of Australia and its islands on the world map became known.