Abel Tasman
Tasman, Abel Janszoon (1603–1659), a Dutch navigator. Exploring the Pacific Ocean for the Dutch East India Company, he discovered Tasmania (which he named Van Diemen's Land) and New Zealand in 1642. Returning to the Dutch East Indies, Tasman sighted the Fiji Islands in 1643. He had sailed around Australia, but without seeing the land, and his voyage is usually not considered the first true circumnavigation of the continent. On a second voyage in 1644 Tasman mapped sections of the northern coast of Australia.