The Tasman Map: Abel Tasman, the Dutch East India Company and the first Dutch discoveries of Australia

The Tasman Map is an icon of early Dutch cartography and shows the first European discoveries of Australia. Based on sixteen separate discoveries, the first map of Australia took shape over a period of only forty years, from 1606 to 1644. It shows a recognisable outline of the north, west, and south coasts of Australia that was not to change for another 125 years until the arrival of the British explorer James Cook.

The version of the map held by the Mitchell Library in Sydney, Australia, i...