PACIFIC EXPLO-

Alvaro de Mendana Qliros and Torres

Spaniard Alvaro de Mendana was just 25 years One of the survivors of Mendaf.,
old when his ship, the Los Reyes, set sail from 1595 expedition was Pedro
Callao, Peru, in 1567. The voyage lasted two Fernandez de Quiros (1565-161
years. The explorers and suffered
got lost He sailed the Pacific again in 16
starvation, thirst, disease, and hurricanes. But, in command of three ships and 300
Mendana and his captain, Pedro de Sarmiento, men. They visited the Cook Islands
discovered the Solomon Islands on this first trip. and the New Hebrides (left), landing
Many years later, in 1595, Mendana set out on Espintu Santo. Quiros became
I
again with a Portuguese pilot, Pedro Fernandez ill. and when his ship was separated

de Quiros. His aim was to start a colony, so from the rest of the expedition, Luis
Mendana took 378 settlers with him. The tnp \ aez de Torres took command.
ha 1541-1595 was complete disaster, leading eventually to
a Torres sailed around New Guinea,
the death of Mendana and many of the crew. proving that it is an island.

The Dutch East India Company

i

KJ 500 750 1000 Miles

From the start of the 1 7th century the powerful Dutch East India

Bff*^%^vl
Company controlled all Dutch trade in the Pacific and Indian
Vv Oceans. Its aims in the Pacific were trade and profit. Exploration

-
was usually unplanned Dutch ships sailing to the compa:
headquarters in Batata (now Jakarta) were frequently blown

N O: R T H off course. So the Dutch learned about Australia's west coast

by accident. A few deliberate expeditions added details to their
hi
M E R I C A m */ . i 'l:,,r it'j
•i

y(l kjl
knowledge of the south and north. In 1615a Dutch expedition
led by Jakob Le Maire and Willem Comeliszoon Schouten crossed
the Pacific from Cape Hom to Baiavia. stopping at a number of

W!| island groups on the way

s
V r, **•
Abel Janszoon Tasman
n
<
-*-'"®\- Dutch knowledge of the
southern continent grew in
Mendafia's
A-- 1642-44 with the voyages of Abel Tasman of the
damaged ships
land al Lower Dutch East India Company. The governor general
California and of Batavia sent Tasman on his first expedition
then limp down
the coast to (allao.
v
^V i-
with the goal to sail east from the Indian
Sept. 1569. Ocean, to the Pacific. Tasman became the
.ACAPIUO first European to discover Van Diemen's

Land (now Tasmania), the Fip Islands, and

Quiros and his
' Tonga, and the first to spot New Zealand
crew, living on Tasman 1603-1659
rainwater and fish,
sail east. 1 1

toAcapulu
year a\ter they ti fl

I [III' ill, expedition

ojMagellan in 1520,
Mendafia's expedition sails
between the Marquesas
and low lying
island groups without eve)
Tuamotu
Mendana and Quirts
sail from Peru in
set
SOUTH
sighting land.
oj I ships Ipril I
i
'

M E R I C A

C_ __E--tT"N
Murderer's Bav
to New Zealand was brief and ill
His ships anchored in a bay on the north [ hat is

now called South Island where thev

group- ol nai - the Maori - The
Mendana leaves Maori- seemed friendl) nit, when the D
.

Qiinos ami Tot res ^

l allao, No\ I rowed i small boal between their si-.

sel sail in harge oj n\

i

ay lata the ship killing tour men Tasman called the anchorage Murderers
3 ships and 100 rru n
sleeping whale Ba\ . and he -ailed awa\ from New Zealand without
Dei 1605.

^ LOL'IS BOl GAINMLLE

H^t ^* Bougainville. a Frenchman.
t $y explored the Pacific as part of
f
+
Bougainville si is sail in
O a trip that began in L766
66. Hesails fhrough the
Sailing northwest from the Strait
KEY TO MAP Strait oj Magelumjffti into ol Magellan he visited the islands ol
ALVARO DE MENDANA I56i 69 A the Pat ship
Tuamotu ana Tahiti, continuing through
MENDANA (with Quiros) Boudeusc in /cinjji
the Samoan and New Hebrides islands He
QUIROS(with lours L605 06 Q —o—o—
|

would have reached Australia but dared not-

LUISVAEZDE TORRES 1 606-07
cross the Great Barrier Reel that guards the
ABEL JANSZOON I.AsMAN L 642-43 O -:->• +
LOUIS BOUGAINVILLE 1766 69 ^T T ITT continent's northeast coast Instead, he sailed
north ol New Guinea and on to Batavia

•
+ ++

J II11K\