Harden Elkington
The first inhabitants of the Australian continent were nomads who lived in tribal societies.
It is believed that they arrived on the landmass through southeast Asia, with some arguing about an earlier arrival via the islands of Indonesia.
The original inhabitants did not have any knowledge of metal, so their tools and weaponry would have been rudimentary at best.
How was Australia discovered?
The Portuguese, in three separate voyages, in the part of the world in 1601, 1605 and 1616 were the first Europeans to come across Australia.
A Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon sighted the coast of Cape York in 1606 but did not land due to being ill with scurvy.
In 1770, the Englishman James Cook was blown off course during his voyage of discovery, and arrived in Botany Bay.
The local Aborigines were curious rather than suspicious of strangers.
After hunting for turtles, which he named ‘Turpins’ after one of his crew members, Cook sailed north around the east coast to Moreton Bay.
His reports of the fertile soil of the east coast led to an influx of British settlers in 1788.
Around the same time, a French expedition led by Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse charted parts of Australia’s east coast as far as Montague Island before returning to France.
Who was in Australia before the Aboriginals?
Some historians contest the commonly accepted view that Aboriginal people arrived in Australia between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago.
They believe there is evidence to suggest that human occupation began about three times earlier than originally thought – 208,000 years ago.
There are claims that artifacts dug up near Kakadu park in southeast Arnhem Land show humans were using stone tools and eating animals in the region 110,000 years ago.
Other evidence of humans living in Australia is a 46,000-year-old fossilized fish caught by an eagle on the Arnhem Land plateau.
Aborigines also believe they were created here about 40,000 years ago.
Who was the first European to discover Australia?
Portuguese navigators were the first Europeans to reach Australia. Portuguese navigator Jorge de Menezes accidentally came across the Australian mainland at Cabo San Lucas in 1522.
However, he did not make any attempt to explore or land in Australia.
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a Spanish navigator sailed the Pacific from Mexico.
He is believed to be the first European to set foot on Australian soil and was responsible for the discovery of Australia in October 1545 where he landed at Cossack Bay (now called Smoky Bay) on the west coast of Eylandt.
The bay later became known as ‘Batavia’s Graveyard’ after the flagship of the Dutch East India Company, which ran aground there in 1629.
The first European to explore parts of eastern Australia was Englishman William Dampier who visited northwestern Australia in 1688.
He returned to England where he published his adventures and aroused great interest among other explorers.
What was Australia first called?
The first known use of the name ‘Australia’ was in 1625, by Dutch mapmaker, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten.
He used the term to distinguish the continent from ‘New Holland’, now part of Indonesia.
The discovery of Australia was a by-product of the search for other trading routes from Europe to Asia, which might have been used by traders from other nations.
The goal at that time was to find a new route to trade with China and India, avoiding the Ottoman Empire and the shipping restrictions imposed on Portugal.
In 1522, King Charles of Spain dispatched a fleet led by Ferdinand Magellan to look for a western route through the Pacific Ocean, but the expedition failed.
In 1565, another Portuguese navigator tried to find a northeast passage from Africa and India to China. His name was Francisco Serrão.
The search for other trading routes came up with several solutions.
In the early 1600s, the Dutch East India Company was established.
One of its goals was to find a possible connection between Asia and Europe, and they hoped that by doing so, they would be able to break the monopoly of the Ottoman Empire over trade with the Orient.
What do aboriginals call Australia?
Australian aborigines call the landmass ‘Birrinydji’, while others believe it to be called ‘Murupiang’ which means “the place where the spirits go” in the local language.
Aborigines were nomadic people, so there are no cities or towns with an Aboriginal name.
However, at least four states have an Aboriginal name for a part of the State.
In the Northern Territory, Arnhem Land is named after Ypiktakrama, while in New South Wales, the Murrumbidgee River was originally called ‘Birrabirragali’.
Parts of Victoria were known as Latjilatji and Gariwerd while Queensland has the Dungala of the east coast of Australia.
How did Australia get its name?
The name ‘Australia’ was first used by Janszoon in 1606, to describe not just this landmass but also New Holland.
The geographical term ‘Australasia’ was coined in 1756 by French geographer, Charles de Brosses, to describe the lands of the southern hemisphere.
It was initially used as a synonym for the newly discovered east coast of Australia, and it would be another 100 years before Captain James Cook called both newly discovered landmasses ‘Australia’.
- Read also: The History Of How America Discovered
- Read also: The Story Of the North Pole
Why is Australia called Oceania?
Australia is one of nearly two dozen islands in the Pacific Ocean, so it makes sense to call the region ‘Oceania’.
The ancient Greeks first coined this term to describe all the lands surrounding the ocean. The name ‘Oceania’ is also used in the names of several continents, such as ‘North America’ and ‘South America’.
It is a geographical term rather than a political one.
The modern definition of Oceania includes Australia and the Pacific Islands such as Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.
Summery
The first known use of the name ‘Australia’ was in 1625, by Dutch mapmaker, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten.
He used the term to distinguish the continent from ‘New Holland’, now part of Indonesia. Australia gets its name from the Latin word ‘australis’ which means southern.
It is the southernmost continent of the world. The discovery of Australia was a by-product of the search for other trading routes from Europe to Asia, which might have been used by traders from other nations.
The goal at that time was to find a new route to trade with China and India, avoiding the Ottoman Empire and the shipping restrictions imposed on Portugal.
The term ‘Oceania’ was first coined by the ancient Greeks to describe all the lands surrounding the ocean.
The modern definition of Oceania includes Australia and other Pacific islands such as Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.
