Monday, August 27, 2007

Cook? Venga ya.

In the second half of the sixteenth century, Spanish expeditions coming from America were the protagonists in the Pacific of some voyages still unknown to the general public. These voyages can be numbered among the most remarkable in the whole history of maritime discovery. In 2006 was commemorated the fourth centenary of two of those voyages, the ones of Quirós and Torres in 1605-1606, and specifically, of three events that took place then: the naming of Australia; the first sighting of Australia by Spanish sailors, and the first European navigation through the Straits that bear the name of Torres. Olé.
An exhibition about this is now on in the National Museum.

3 comments:

Huinca said...

Naaa, ahora resulta que los españoles descubrieron Australia???
Tamos todos locos.

Annebeth said...

Let's be specific on this data in 1606 because also the Dutch were sailing around the Ozzie continent at that time. Following my information (see bellow) the Dutch were the first ;-)

In March 1606, Captain Willem Jansz. of the Duyfken was the first European to set eyes on Australia. He was followed by several seafarers in the service of the VOC. And to this very day wrecks and names on the map recall Dutch exploration in the region. The years between 1617 and 1644 were the heyday of Dutch exploration of the west, north and south coasts of Australia. The last major VOC expedition took place in 1696-1697.

Unknown said...

Well, It doesn't matter who arrived first, to be precise the first people in this continent were and are aboriginals, the differences were made by those with enough power to force others to yield ... :-/ I have to work.


I wanna go anyway to see the exhibition. What about if we go this weekend? Or maybe we could go on Friday arvo if we finish work erarly. What do you reckon?