Which Dutch explorer was the first European to sight New Zealand in 1642?

Which Dutch explorer was the first European to sight New Zealand in 1642? Abel Tasman was the first known European to reach New Zealand. Sailing for the Dutch East India Company, Tasman sighted the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island on 13 December 1642.

Tasman’s expedition was searching the largely uncharted southern Pacific for new lands, trade routes, and possible commercial opportunities. He named the land Staten Landt, believing it might be connected to a landmass previously charted near South America. Dutch cartographers later used the name Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland.

The encounter was not peaceful. In what Tasman named Murderers’ Bay, now Golden Bay, Māori in waka confronted the Dutch boats, and four Dutch sailors were killed. Tasman therefore left without making a landing or establishing trade. His voyage also reached Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen’s Land, and later sighted parts of Tonga and Fiji.

A common mix-up is James Cook, who mapped New Zealand in detail during his 1769 voyage. Cook was not the first European to see it; Tasman preceded him by 127 years.