‘Hollandia Nova Terre Australe’

The final state of Thevenot’s seminal map of Australia. This is the only state that includes the tracks of Abel Tasman’s first voyage 1642-1643.

Thevenot’s important map is the first map soley devoted to the continent and the first map of just Australia, which records the discoveries made by Abel Tasman on his two voyages of exploration on behalf of the VOC in 1642-3 and 1644.  

The VOC had appointed Tasman on 1 August 1642 as commander of the Heemskerck and Zeehaen with instructions to explore the unknown and previously undiscovered areas of the South Land, the southeast coast of New Guinea and surrounding islands. Tasman’s two voyages resulted in the charting of the northern, northwestern and southern limits of the continent, as well as the discovery of part of the west coast of New Zealand. The map also records the following earlier Dutch discoveries on the Australian coast:

1616 Hartog in the Eendracht
1619 Houtman in the Dordrecht and Amsterdam 
1622 The van Leeuwin
1623 Carstensz in the Leijden 
1627 Nuyts in the Gulden Zeepaert 
1628 de Wit in the Vianen

Thevenot divides the continent with a meridian at 135 degrees East of Greenwich. The positioning of this meridian falls along the division set out in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between Spain and Portugal. The lands to the east “belonged” to Portugal and those to the west to Spain. The shape of Australia was to remained unchamged for over one hundred and forty years until James Cook’s discovery of the east coast of the coninent..

References:

Clancy, R. The Mapping of Terra Australis, p. 82

Perry, The Discovery of Australia Plate 28 P.61

Schilder, Australia Unveiled Map 85, p. 198

Suarez, T. Early Mapping of Southeast Asia, p. 208.

Tooley, Australia, p. 202