Abel Tasman
Tasman, Abel Janszoon (1603 - 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 (in the service of the Dutch East India Company) during which he 'discovered' (from a European perspective) the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand. He also mapped substantial portions of Australia.
His task was to investigate Australia, of which the Dutch earlier had discovered the west coast, and which was known as New Holland, and to determine whether it was part of Terra Australis, in the hope of locating a new unexploited continent for trade. To do so, on his first voyage (1642 to 1643) he sailed from Jakarta (then known as Batavia) with two small ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen. He first went to Mauritius, and from there sailed east at a higher latitude than the Dutch had done before. This way, he completely missed Australia, but did finally find land at the island of Tasmania. He named it Van Diemen's Land, but the English later renamed it after its discoverer. After some investigation, he sailed further east, and discovered New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt on the theory that it was connected to a piece of land at the tip of South America. He sailed north along its west coast. Near the top of the South Island he anchored the ships in a bay, were in his only encounter with the Maori four of his sailors were killed. He named it Murderers' Bay and sailed north, but missed Cook Strait separating the north and south islands, believing New Zealand to be a single land, and part of Terra Australis. En route back to Batavia, he discovered the Tonga archipelago.
On his second voyage, in 1644, he followed the south coast of New Guinea eastward. He missed Strait Torres between New Guinea and Australia, and continued his voyage along the Australian coast. He mapped the north coast of Australia, but from the company's point of view Tasman's explorations were a disappointment: He had neither found a promising area for trade nor a useful new shipping route. For over a century (until James Cook), Tasmania and New Zealand were not again visited by Europeans, and Australia only by accident.