Discovery history. Man appeared in Australia 40 thousand years ago. They were newcomers from South and Southeast Asia, the forerunners of modern aborigines. Having populated the eastern part of Australia, people also penetrated into Tasmania. The fact that the Tasmanians are descendants of the ancient Australians is confirmed by recent archaeological finds on Hunter Island in Bass Strait.

Assumptions about the existence of the mysterious Terra incognita Australis - the "Unknown Southern Land" south of the equator were expressed by ancient geographers. A vast area of ​​land in the southern hemisphere was depicted on maps in the 15th century, although its outlines in no way resembled Australia. Some information concerning the northern coasts of Australia was available from the Portuguese as far back as the 16th century; they came from the inhabitants of the Malay Islands, who visited the coastal waters of the mainland to catch trepangs. However, until the 17th century, none of the Europeans managed to see Australia with their own eyes.

The discovery of Australia has long been associated with the name of the English navigator James Cook. In fact, the first Europeans to visit the coast of this continent and meet here with scattered tribes of aborigines were the Dutch: Willem Janszon in 1605 and Abel Tasman in 1642. Janszon crossed the Torres Strait and sailed along the coast of the Cape York Peninsula, while Tasman discovered the southwestern part of Tasmania, which he considered part of the mainland. And the Spaniard Torres in 1606 sailed through the strait that separates the island of New Guinea from the mainland.

However, the Spaniards and the Dutch kept their discoveries secret. James Cook sailed to the east coast of Australia only one hundred and fifty years later, in 1770, and immediately declared it an English possession. A royal “penal colony” was created here for criminals, and later for exiled members of the Chartist movement in England. Representatives of the British authorities, who arrived in 1788 with the "first fleet" to the shores of Australia, founded the city of Sydney, which was subsequently proclaimed the administrative center of the British colony of New South Wales, created in 1824. With the arrival of the "second fleet" the first free settlers appear. Development begins, or rather, the capture of the mainland, accompanied by the most severe extermination of the indigenous population. Aborigines were hunted, and bonuses were given for the dead. Often, the colonists staged real raids on the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, killing them without distinction of sex and age, scattering poisoned food, after which people died in terrible agony. Not surprisingly, a hundred years later, most of the indigenous population was exterminated. The remaining natives were driven from the land of their ancestors and pushed into the interior desert regions. In 1827, England announces the establishment of its sovereignty over the entire continent.

The end of the 18th and the entire 19th century for Australia is the time geographical discoveries. In 1797, the exploration of the shores of the continent began by the talented English hydrographer M. Flinders, whose work Australian geographers rate as highly as Cook's discoveries. He confirmed the existence of the Bass Strait, explored the shores of Tasmania and South Australia, the entire eastern and northern coasts of the mainland, and mapped the Great Barrier Reef. Flinders, on the other hand, proposed giving the continent the name "Australia", replacing it with the previously accepted designation on the maps "New Holland", which was finally supplanted since 1824.

By the 19th century, the contours of the mainland were mostly mapped, but the interior remained a “blank spot”. The first attempt to penetrate deep into Australia was made in 1813 by an expedition of English colonists who discovered a passage through the Blue Mountains and discovered magnificent pasture lands west of the Great Dividing Range. A “land fever” began: a stream of free settlers poured into Australia, capturing huge plots of land, where they organized thousands of sheep farms. This land grab was called “squatting”.

The parties of prospectors moved further and further west, south and north, crossed the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. In 1840, P. Strzelecki discovered the highest peak of the mainland in the Australian Alps, which he named Mount Kosciuszko in honor of the national hero of Poland.

More than a dozen large expeditions were equipped to explore the Australian Interior, attempts were made to cross the continent. Significant discoveries in the depths of the mainland belong to C. Sturt, who first discovered the Darling River and the Simpson Desert. Significant discoveries in the southeast were made by D. Mitchell, in the west by D. Gray; V. Leichgard traveled from the Darling Range to the northern coast, but three years later, while trying to cross the continent from east to west, his expedition went missing in the endless deserts of Central Australia.

For the first time, R. Burke managed to cross the continent from south to north, who led a well-equipped expedition in 1860-1861. Burke went from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, but on the way back he died along with his companion W. Wils. D. Stuart managed to cross the continent twice, passing through the most sultry places of the central deserts.

By the end of the 19th century, exploration of inland Australia was completed.

At the very beginning of the 19th century, a hard labor colony was founded in Tasmania, free settlers appeared on the island later, only in the 20s of the 19th century, and at the same time extermination campaigns began against the Tasmanian aborigines. In just a decade, most of the Tasmanians were exterminated. In 1876, the last Tasmanian woman died.

The period of discovery in Tasmania lasted until 1843. By this time, not only the coasts, but also the central regions had been explored, work began on a continuous large-scale survey of the territory, and in the 70s large deposits of tin, gold and rare metals were discovered on the island.

The first settlers who arrived in Australia did not find anything similar to the landscapes of England. They did not perceive either the beauty of malga (acacia bushes) or the magnificence of eucalyptus forests. The colonists did everything to make the landscapes in which they got as close as possible to the parks and pastures of England.

Until the middle of the 19th century, the development of Australian territories was slow. The exiles, who arrived with the first ships, brought with them seeds and seedlings of plants, which they began to grow on poor sandy soils around the first settlement on the site of modern Sydney. Agriculture was slash-and-burn, organic fertilizers were not used, as there were no livestock. During the year, two crops were harvested - wheat and corn, when the crops fell, the site was abandoned.

Gradually, farmers began to move from the areas of initial development on the southeast coast, following the pastoralists inland, north, to the tropical coast, changing old and breeding new crops. From 1850 to 1914, Australian farmers developed the best land on the continent. The most fertile soils were almost completely occupied by wheat, and sugar cane was grown further north, on the alluvial plains near the Tropic of Capricorn.

At the same time, cattle breeding began to move into the interior of Australia, at first to the relatively watered areas of the light forests of the southeast, and then to the arid regions of Central Australia.

An important milestone in the development of the country was the middle of the last century, when gold was found in several places at once - first in the states of Victoria and New Wales, and then in Western Australia. At this time, a stream of immigrants, mainly English and Irish, rushes to Australian soil.

The "Gold Rush", as well as the spread of extensive sheep breeding over large areas of land, led to the rapid development of the economy, population growth and the administrative formation of the colonies. In the 70s, there were already six separate colonies in Australia: New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, which fought for self-government. In the period from 1873 to 1883, negotiations were held between the colonies on the creation of a federation, which ended by 1889 with the development of a draft constitution.

Abel Tasman- Dutch navigator, explorer and merchant. He received worldwide recognition for the sea campaigns he led in 1642-1644. He was the first known European explorer to reach the shores of New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. The data collected during his expeditions helped to prove the fact that Australia is a separate continent.

Abel Janszoon Tasman was born in 1603 in the village of Lütjegast near Groningen (now the municipality of Grotegast in the province of Groningen) in the Netherlands. The exact date of his birth is unknown. The first documentary mention of him refers to 1631, when he, already widowed by that time, remarried. As follows from the surviving church record, his wife was illiterate and came from a poor family, which indirectly confirmed the validity of the assumptions of the researchers of his biography about his low social status at that time.

Presumably at the same time, Abel Tasman entered the service of the Dutch East India Company as a simple sailor, but already in the records of 1634 he appears as the skipper (captain) of one of the company's ships. The main occupation of the company's sailors at that time was servicing the transportation of spices and spices, which were an expensive and valuable commodity for the European market.

In 1638, Tasman, commanding a ship, sailed to India.

In 1639, Tasman led one of two ships (together with M. Quast) equipped by the East India Company to explore the navigation areas in the region of Japan and trade opportunities with the local population. In general, this expedition was not successful, and after 6 months spent at sea, the Tasman ship, having lost almost 40 out of 90 crew members, returned to the Dutch fort Zeelandia on the island of Formosa (Taiwan). During this voyage, Bonin Island was discovered by him.

In 1640, Tasman again led one of the 11 Dutch ships headed for the shores of Japan. This time he spent about three months in the Japanese port of Hirado.

In 1642, Tasman was appointed commander of a detachment of two ships of the East India Company sent to explore the southern and eastern waters of the Pacific Ocean. According to the hypotheses of geographers and navigators of that era, it was these waters that should have washed the shores of the mythical Unknown Southern Land, about the possible wealth of which was told by several generations. During this voyage, on November 24, 1642, Tasman discovered a large island (Tasmania) off the coast of Australia and named it Van Diemen's land in honor of the governor of the Netherlands East Indies. After following several tens of miles along the coast of the island, Tasman turned east and on December 13 he saw the outlines of another unfamiliar land. It was the South Island of New Zealand. During the stop at this island, Europeans first met with the Maori, the original inhabitants of New Zealand. The meeting ended tragically: the Maori attacked the landing Dutch, killed several sailors and disappeared. Frustrated by this incident, Tasman named this place Killer Bay (now Golden Bay).

Continuing along the west coast of the North Tasman Island, he reached its tip and turned to the northeast. On January 21, 1643, the expedition reached the Tonga archipelago, discovering here several previously unknown islands. Having replenished supplies of water and food on Tonga, on February 6, Tasman's ships approached the islands of the Fiji archipelago. Further, leaving the Fiji Islands to the south, Tasman passed along the northern coast of New Guinea and on June 15, after an almost ten-month journey, arrived in Batavia.

In 1643, Tasman led a detachment of three East India Company ships along the western coast of New Guinea and the northern coast of Australia. As a result, a significant part of the coast of northern Australia was mapped for the first time.

From the point of view of the leadership of the East India Company, the sailing of detachments of ships under the command of Tasman in 1642-1644 ended in complete failure - new trade areas were never discovered and no new sea passages were found for navigation. Until almost 100 years of travel by the British navigator James Cook, Europeans never began to explore New Zealand, and visits to Australia were isolated and most often caused by shipwrecks. After the expedition returned to Batavia, Tasman was promoted to the rank of commander and raised his salary, and he himself was appointed a member of the Legal Council of Batavia. In 1647 he was sent as a representative to the king of Siam, and in 1648 he led a detachment of 8 ships that opposed the ships of the Spanish fleet.

Around 1651, Abel Tasman retired and moved on to trade in Batavia.

Relief. Australia is the flattest continent. Most of it is a plain, the edges of which are raised, especially in the east. Mountains occupy only 5% of the mainland. The average height of the mainland is 340-350 m above sea level. In the structure of its surface, three areas are clearly expressed: the Zahidno-Australian Plateau with a height of 400-500 m, the Central Lowland, where the lowest point of the mainland (-12 m below sea level) is located in the Lake Eyre region, and the medium-altitude Great Dividing Range in the east with highest point mainland (Mount Kosciuszko, 2228 m).

The geological structure of Australia in comparison with other continents is the simplest. The mainland consists of ancient Precambrian and young

Epihercynian platforms occupying the western and central territory, and a much smaller folded belt of the Liznoproterozoic and Paleozoic age in the east.

The Australian platform is one of the largest on Earth. A distinctive feature of its structure is the alternation of protrusions of the ancient foundation and depressions. The outcrops of metamorphosed and volcanic rocks of the folded basement form three shields - Zakhidno-Australian, Pivnichno-Australian and Shvdenno-Australian. Within the framework of the first of them, the oldest rocks were found, which were formed more than 3 billion years ago.

"The eastern part of the mainland from the Cape York Peninsula in the north to the island of Tasmania in the south" has the Shidno-Australian folded region.

Geological structures determined the differences in the forms of the surface of the western and eastern parts of the mainland.

The Central Lowland is located in the zone of the meridional trough of the Australian Platform. Here, the relief is dominated by lowlands, confined to the areas of the greatest subsidence of the platform foundation - the basin of Lake Eyre, the Murray basin and the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Mountain types of relief in Australia are almost not common. In the southeast, to the Zahidno-Australian Plateau, low (700 - 900 m) blocky mountains Flinders and Mount Lofty adjoin. Flat-topped uplifts are broken by a graben, which go under water and form Spencer and St. Vincent bays. There are mountains in the center of Australia - McDonnelly and Musgrave,

The mountain belt of Eastern Australia is formed by the Great Dividing Range and the mountains of Tasmania. These low folded-blocky mountain structures were formed as a result of Neogene tectonic movements. The eastern slopes of the mountains are steep, the western slopes are gentle. A feature of the Great Dividing Range is the displacement of the main watershed from the higher eastern

ranges to flat-topped low-mountain plateaus in the west.

Australia is rich in minerals. The crystalline rocks of the platform foundation contain iron, copper, lead-zinc, uranium ores, gold. Minerals of sedimentary origin include deposits of phosphorites, rock salt, hard and brown coal, oil, natural gas. Many deposits lie at shallow depths, so they are mined by open-cast mining. In terms of reserves of iron ore, non-ferrous metal ores (bauxite, lead, zinc, nickel) and uranium, Australia occupies one of the first places in the world.

Climate. Australia is the driest continent on Earth, three-quarters of its surface has insufficient moisture. Climatic conditions on the continent are determined by its position near the equator, on both sides of the tropic. It was the hot tropical sun that caused the formation of extended deserts on the continent.

Compared with South Africa and South America, south of the equator Australia is more "stretched" from west to east. With a weak dissection of the coastline, this causes constantly high temperatures in the interior and gives the right to consider it the hottest part of the land of the southern hemisphere.

The main territory of Australia is located in three climatic zones - from the subequatorial in the north, in the main part of the tropical, in the subtropical in the south, and the island of Tasmania is classified by climatologists as a temperate zone.

From December to February (in the summer of the southern hemisphere), the mainland warms up strongly, especially its central parts; This is the hot season of the year. In the area of ​​Alice Springs (the center of Australia) and in the adjacent deserts, the average air temperatures during the day are about 35-36 degrees, and on some days even above +40. In winter, daytime temperatures here are almost two times lower - about +20 degrees, in the Great Victoria Desert - up to +10 degrees, in some years night frosts are not ruled out.

In inland areas, the influx of moist air from the north leads to occasional rains in summer, which, on the whole, are of little effect. South of 19-20o S sh. rainfall is no more than 300 mm, and semi-deserts and deserts dominate.

On the West Coast - in Perth the climate is somewhat milder due to the influence of the ocean - in the summer it is usually 30-degree heat, in winter the air cools down to +18 ... + 20 degrees during the day and + 6 ... + 8 at night.

In the most inhabited region of Australia - the southeast coast, the Mediterranean type of climate reigns - with hot, dry summers and rainy mild winters. So, in Melbourne in summer, on typical January days, the thermometer usually stays around +25..+27 degrees, and in winter it drops to +10…+12, at night to +5.

In the coolest part of the country - on the island of Tasmania, a typical British climate reigns - in summer the daytime temperature is +20 ... +22, in winter it is ten degrees cooler. In winter, night frosts occur, but there is no stable snow cover here - in the entire region, snow steadily falls only on the tops of the mountains.

Australia is one of the most exotic English-speaking countries in the world. With a high standard of living and an attractive immigration policy, many see it as a place to live or work. If you are learning English to move to Australia, or for work, study or pleasure, it will be helpful to get general idea about the history of this country.

prehistoric australia

About 50 thousand years ago, the first people arrived on the southern mainland of Australia - the earliest sea travelers in the world. Geologists believe that at that time the island of New Guinea in the north and Tasmania in the south were part of the continent.

After several thousand years, the mainland began to be actively settled. The earliest archaeological find of human remains in Australia is the so-called Mungo Man, who lived about 40,000 years ago. According to it, scientists have determined that the first inhabitants of Australia were massive and tall people.

In the prehistoric period, Australia was settled by people in several waves. About 5 thousand years ago, with the next stream of migrants, the dingo dog appeared on the mainland - the only non-marsupial Australian predator. Only by the 2nd millennium BC did the Australian Aborigines acquire their modern look, evolving and mixing with the newcomers.

Aborigines formed a variety of tribes with own languages, culture, religion and tradition. By the time the Europeans discovered Australia, there were about 500 tribes on the mainland who spoke about 250 different languages. None of them had a written language, so their history is not well known. They used symbolic drawings, retelling ancient legends in them. These myths and archaeological finds are the only data that historians studying Australia can use.

Since people began to settle in Australia quite a long time ago (for comparison, people came to the territory of America only 13 thousand years ago, as much as 27 thousand years later) and were not influenced by the rest of the world before the arrival of Europeans, the Australian aboriginal civilization is considered one of the oldest continuous cultures. in the world.

European studies of the mainland

Australia is officially considered to have been discovered by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszon in 1606. He sailed to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north of the mainland and landed on the Cape York Peninsula - the northernmost point of Australia, which is located only 160 kilometers from New Guinea. A year before him, the Spaniard Luis Vaes Torres swam in these waters, who passed very close to the Australian coast and even supposedly saw the land on the horizon, but mistook it for another archipelago.

There are several other alternative theories for the discovery of Australia. According to one of them, Portuguese navigators discovered the mainland before Willem Janszon. A flotilla led by de Siqueira explored the route to the Moluccas and sent several expeditions around the archipelago. One of these expeditions under the command of Mendonsa in 1522 allegedly visited the northwestern shores of Australia.

The theory of the early discovery of Australia looks plausible, since 16th century cannons were found just on the west coast in the 20th century. On the territory of the mainland more than once found unusual finds, which can only be explained by the early voyages of Europeans to the Australian shores. However, these theories are considered controversial. In addition, the discovery of Australia remained unknown to Europe until the voyages of the Dutch.

Janszon declared the found territories the possession of the Netherlands, although the Dutch did not begin their development. In the next few decades, the Dutch continued to explore Australia. In 1616 Derk Hartog visited the west coast, three years later Frederick de Houtman explored several hundred kilometers of the coast. In 1644, Abel Tasman launched his famous sea voyages, during which he discovered New Zealand, Tasmania, Fiji and Tonga, and also proved that Australia is a separate continent.

The Dutch explored only the west coast of Australia, the rest of the coastline and inland lands remained unexplored until the voyages of James Cook a century later, in 1769. It was believed that New Holland (the first name of Australia) discovered by the Dutch does not belong to the hypothetical southern mainland Terra Australis Incognita, the existence of which has been suspected since ancient times. New Holland was an inhospitable place with a difficult climate and hostile natives, so there was no interest in it for a long time.

In the middle of the 18th century, the British came up with the idea of ​​exiling convicts to the islands of the Southern Ocean or to a supposedly existing mainland called the Unknown Southern Land. In 1769, English lieutenant James Cook set off on the ship Endeavor to Tahiti on a secret mission to find the southern mainland and explore the coast of New Holland.

Cook sailed to the east coast of Australia and landed in Botany Bay. After examining the coastal lands, he concluded that they were favorable enough for the establishment of a colony. Then Cook went along the coast in a northwesterly direction and found the strait between Australia and New Guinea (thus proving that this island is not part of the mainland). The navigator did not fulfill the task of finding the southern mainland.

During the second round the world expedition Cook explored the southern latitudes and came to the conclusion that there are no large lands in them except Australia. Dreams of Terra Australis were shattered, but a free name remained. In 1814, the English navigator Matthew Flinders suggested that New Holland should be called Australia. By that time, colonies from several states already existed on the mainland, which did not immediately accept the proposal, but eventually began to use this name. In 1824 it became official.

British colonization of Australia

Cook recommended Botany Bay for settlement. Here in 1787 the first fleet with settlers went. They were convicts - but for the most part not malicious criminals, robbers and murderers, but former merchants and farmers convicted of short terms for minor crimes. Many of them were soon granted pardons and allocated plots for farms. The rest of the settlers were infantrymen with their families, officers and other employees.

The ships found a convenient place for colonization near Botany Bay - Port Jackson Bay, where they founded a settlement in Sydney Cove. The date the colony was founded, January 26, 1788, later became a national holiday, Australia Day. A month later, the governor of the settlement officially announced the creation of a colony, which was called New South Wales. Locality was named after the British Home Secretary Viscount Sidney. This is how the city of Sydney appeared - now the largest and most developed in Australia.

The governor of the colony tried to improve relations with the natives, helped the convicts to improve, and established trade and agriculture. The first years were difficult for the settlers: there was not enough food, the convicts had few professional skills, and new convicts arriving in the colony turned out to be sick and disabled after a long and difficult voyage. But the governor managed to develop the colony, and from 1791 its affairs began to go uphill.

The living conditions of the convicts were harsh. They had to do a lot of work to create a colony: build houses and roads, help farmers. They starved and were severely punished. But the pardoned prisoners remained in Australia, received their allotments and could themselves hire convicts. One such ex-convict grew the first successful crop of wheat in 1789. Soon the colony began to provide itself with food.

In 1793, the first free settlers arrived in Sydney (except for the military guarding the convicts). They were given land free of charge, provided agricultural equipment for the first time, and were given the right to free movement and use the labor of prisoners.

Mainland exploration

After the founding of the colony, exploration of Australia continued. Europeans used the services of local guides, so most of the trips were successful. In 1813 an expedition by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth passed through the ranges of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and found extensive pastures. In 1824, the Hume and Hovell expedition made many important discoveries, discovered the Murray River and its tributaries, and discovered many new pastures.

In 1828, Charles Sturt discovered the Darling River and reached the point where the Murray River flows into the Great Australian Bight. Then followed a whole series of expeditions, filling in the gaps of previous research. European and Australian explorers retained many of the original place names instead of giving their own. In 1839, the Polish traveler Strzelecki climbed the highest peak in Australia - Mount Kosciuszko in the Australian Alps.

In 1829 Great Britain claimed the entire western part of Australia. The colony of New South Wales was divided into several, the colonies of Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory, Swan River appeared. Settlers gradually spread across the continent. At this time, the major cities of Melbourne and Brisbane were founded.

Under the onslaught of European colonists, the natives retreated from the coasts inland. Their numbers greatly decreased due to the diseases brought by the settlers. In the middle of the 19th century all indigenous people were moved to reservations, many were sent there by force.

By 1840 the tradition of sending convicts to Australia was being forgotten, and after 1868 it was no longer practiced.

Golden fever

In the 1850s, the gold rush began in Australia. The British authorities established licenses for gold mining, which was extremely disliked by gold miners. In 1854, prospectors from Ballarat raised an uprising, now known as the Eureka. The rebels created the Ballarat Reform League and made a number of demands to the government: to introduce universal suffrage, to abolish gold mining licenses, to abolish property restrictions for parliamentary candidates.

The resistance of the gold diggers was crushed, they were arrested and put on trial. But the court did not find the rebels guilty. Many of the miners' demands were met: licenses were canceled and the right to apply to parliament was given. The Eureka Rebellion stimulated the development of liberalism in Australia. This event became one of the key in the history of the country.

In 1855, New South Wales became self-governing while remaining part of the British Empire. Other Australian colonies soon followed. Their governments took care of internal affairs, and foreign policy, defense and trade continued to be in charge of Great Britain.

The "Gold Rush" caused an economic boom in Australia. The next few decades were prosperous for Australians. In the 1890s, the economic situation began to deteriorate, at the same time the labor movement began to increase, new political parties began to appear, and the Australian colonies began to think about uniting.

Australian Union

For ten years, the colonies discussed the issue of unification and prepared to create a single country. In 1901, they created the Commonwealth of Australia, a federal state that was a dominion of the British Empire. In the early years, the capital of the Union was the city of Melbourne, but already in 1911, the future capital of Australia, the city of Canberra, began to be built on a specially allocated Federal Capital Territory. In 1927, the construction of the city was completed and the Union government settled in it.

A little later, the Federation included several territories that had previously been subordinate to Great Britain: the Norfolk Islands, Cartier and Ashmore. It was assumed that Australia would include New Zealand, but she chose to seek independence from Great Britain on her own.

The Australian economy was heavily dependent on exports. The country had to import a large number of grain and wool. The Great Depression, which began in the United States in 1929, and the global economic crisis that followed, severely affected Australia. The unemployment rate rose to a record 29%.

In 1931, the British Parliament adopted the Statute of Westminster, which established the position of the dominions. According to it, the British dominions received full official independence, but retained the right of the British monarch to hold the post of head of state. Australia ratified this statute only in 1942, becoming effectively independent from Great Britain.

History of Australia after Independence

Second World War boosted the Australian economy. The Australians received a promise of protection from the United States in the event of a Japanese attack, so they took part in hostilities without risk to themselves. After the war, many residents of dilapidated Europe decided to move to Australia. The Australian government encouraged immigration, wanting to increase the country's population and attract talented professionals.

By 1975, two million immigrants had arrived in Australia. Most of them are former residents of Great Britain and Ireland. Thus, most of the Australian population are carriers in English, which has evolved into an Australian dialect. The state does not have an official language.

In the 1970s, the Australian government introduced a number of important reforms that are still significant today: free higher education, the abolition of compulsory military service, the recognition of the right of aborigines to land and others. From a former colony of convicts, Australia has become a highly developed country with one of the highest levels of immigration.

Some researchers suggest that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the shores of Australia back in the 20s of the 16th century.

As the main evidence, supporters of this theory cite the following points:

• maps of Dieppe published in France in mid-sixteenth century. They depict a large stretch of land between Indonesia and Antarctica, called Java la Grande, with symbols and explanations in French and Portuguese;
• presence of Portuguese colonies in Southeast Asia in early XVI century. In particular, the island of Timor is located only 650 km from the Australian coast;
• various finds found in coastline Australia are attributed to early Portuguese travelers.

In addition, the French navigator Binot Polmier de Gonneville claimed to have landed on some land east of the Cape of Good Hope in 1504, after the ship was blown off course by the wind. For some time he was credited with the discovery of Australia, but later it turned out that the lands he visited were part of the coast of Brazil.

Discovery of Australia by the Dutch

The first undeniable discovery of Australia is documented at the end of February 1606. The expedition of the Dutch East India Company, led by Willem Jansson, landed from the ship "Duifken" ("Dove") on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Jansson and his comrades explored the coast of New Guinea. Sailing from the island of Java to the southern coast of New Guinea and moving along it, after some time the Dutch reached the shores of the Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia, believing that they were still watching the coast of New Guinea.

Apparently, for some reason, the expedition did not notice the Torres Strait, which separates the coasts of New Guinea and Australia. On February 26, the team landed near the place where the city of Waipa is located today and was immediately attacked by the natives.

Subsequently, Jansson and his people sailed along the coast of Australia for about 350 km, from time to time making landfalls, but everywhere they ran into hostile natives, as a result of which several sailors died. The captain decided to return back, without realizing that he had discovered a new continent.

Since Jansson described the coast he explored as deserted and swampy, the new discovery did not arouse any interest. The East India Company equipped its ships in search of new lands rich in spices and jewels, and not for the sake of geographical discoveries as such.

In the same year, Luis Vaes de Torres sailed through the same strait, apparently not noticed by the Jansson expedition and later named Torres. It is possible that Torres and his comrades visited the northern coast of the continent, but there is no written evidence of this.

In 1616, another ship of the Dutch East India Company, under the control of Dirk Hartog, reached the shores of Western Australia, in the Shark Bay area (Shark Bay) at about 25 degrees south latitude. The navigators explored the coast and nearby islands for three days. Finding nothing of interest, Hartog continued north along the previously unexplored coastline to 22 degrees S, after which he headed for Batavia.

In 1619, Frederick de Houtman and Jacob d'Erdel explored the Australian coast at 32 degrees S in two ships. sh. moving gradually to the north, where at 28 degrees S. discovered a strip of reefs called Houtman's Rocks.

In subsequent years, Dutch sailors continued to sail along the coast of Australia, calling this land New Holland, without bothering to explore the coast properly, because they did not see any commercial advantage in it. The vast coastline may have piqued their curiosity, but it did not encourage them to explore the country's resources. Exploring the western and northern coasts, they formed the impression of the newly discovered lands as swampy and barren. During that period, the Dutch never saw the southern and eastern shores, much more attractive in appearance.

On July 4, 1629, the Batavia, a ship of the Dutch East India Company, was shipwrecked off the Houtman Rocks. After the mutiny that happened soon after, part of the crew built a small fort for their protection - this was the first European structure in Australia.

According to some estimates, between 1606 and 1770 more than 50 European ships visited the shores of Australia. Most of them belonged to the Dutch East India Company, including the ships of Abel Tasman. In 1642, Tasman, trying to go around the so-called New Holland from the south, discovered an island, which he called Van Diemen's Land (later this island was renamed Tasmania). Moving further east, after some time the ships reached New Zealand. However, Tasman never got close to Australia on his first voyage. Only in 1644 did he manage to explore in detail its northwestern coast and prove that all the territories previously discovered during the Dutch expeditions, with the exception of Van Diemen's Land, are parts of a single mainland.

English Studies

Almost until the end of the 80s of the 17th century, practically nothing was known in England about the lands discovered by the Dutch. In 1688, a pirate ship carrying the Englishman William Dampier anchored on the northwest coast, near Lake Melville. There was not much to plunder there, and after several weeks of repairs, the ship left the inhospitable shores. However, this voyage had some consequences: returning to England, Dampier published a story about his journey, which interested the English Admiralty.

In 1699, he set off on a second voyage to the shores of Australia, on the Roebuck ship provided to him. As in the previous case, he visited the barren northwest coast and after 4 months of research was forced to return without finding anything. noteworthy. Since Dampier was unable to provide any facts that could interest the Admiralty, interest in new lands waned for almost three-quarters of a century.

In 1770, an expedition led by Lieutenant James Cook set off for the southern part of Pacific Ocean on the sailboat "Endeavour" ("Attempt"). The navigators were supposed to make astronomical observations, but Cook had secret orders from the British Admiralty to search for the southern continent of Terra Australis Incognita, which, according to geographers of the time, extended around the pole. Cooke reasoned that since so-called New Holland had a west coast, there must also be an east coast.

The expedition landed on the east coast of Australia at the end of April 1770. The landing site, originally named Stingray Bay, was later renamed Botany Bay due to the strange and unusual plants found there.

Cook named the open lands New Wales and later New South Wales. He had no idea about the scale of his discovery, as well as the fact that this island is a whole continent, 32 times larger than Britain itself. Among other things, Cook was the first European to visit the Great Barrier Reef. The ship that stumbled across it spent the next seven weeks under repair.

The British returned in 1778 to colonize new lands.

British colonies

It was decided to start colonization discovered by James Cook lands using convicts as the first colonists. The first fleet, led by Captain Arthur Philip, consisting of 11 ships carrying a total of about 1350 people, arrived in Botany Bay on the 20th of January 1788. However, the area was considered unsuitable for settlement and they moved north to Port Jackson.

Governor Philip issued an order establishing the first British colony in Australia. The soil around Sydney Harbor was poor. The young colony relied both on developing farms along the Parramatta River, 25 kilometers upstream to the west, and on buying food from the natives.

The Second Fleet in 1790 brought badly needed supplies and various materials; however, among the newly arrived prisoners there were a large number of patients, many of them were close to death and useless for the colony. The second fleet became known as the "Death Fleet" - 278 convicts and crew members died during this voyage, while the first time there were only 48 people who died.

The colony experienced many other difficulties, including a significant male preponderance of about four per woman, which had been a problem in the settlement for many years.

Several other British colonies were also created.

Van Diemen's Land

The first British settlement on the island was established at Risdon in 1803, when Lieutenant John Bowen landed with about 50 settlers, crew, soldiers and convicts. In February 1804, Lieutenant David Collins established a settlement at Hobart. The colony of Van Diemen's Land was established in 1825, and from 1856 officially became known as Tasmania.

Western Australia

In 1827, Major Edmund Lockyer built a small British settlement at King Georges Sound (Albany). Captain James Stirling became its first governor. The colony was created specifically for convicts, and the first prisoners arrived in 1850.

South Australia

The British province of South Australia was founded in 1836 and became a Crown colony in 1842. Although South Australia was not created for convicts, a number of former prisoners subsequently moved there from other colonies. About 38,000 immigrants arrived and settled in the area by 1850.

Victoria

In 1834, the Henty brothers arrived in Portland Bay, and John Batman settled on the site of the future Melbourne. The first immigrant ships arrived in Port Phillip in 1839. In 1851, Victoria (Port Phillip) seceded from New South Wales.

queensland

In 1824, a colony known as Moreton Bay Settlement was established at Radcliffe by Lieutenant John Oxley, later known as Brisbane. About 19 hundred people were sent to the settlement between 1824 and 1839. The first free European settlers moved into the area in 1838. In 1859, Queensland seceded from New South Wales.

northern territory

In 1825, the land occupied by today's Northern Territory was part of New South Wales. In 1863 control of the area was given to South Australia. The capital Darwin was founded in 1869 and was originally known as Palmerston. On January 1, 1911, the Northern Territory seceded from South Australia and became part of the Commonwealth of Australia.

After the colonization of the coast, a period of active exploration began. However, until 1813, none of the expeditions were able to overcome the high mountain chain located along the east coast. After the passage was discovered, in 1815 Governor Macquarie crossed the Blue Mountains and founded the city of Bathurst on the other side. Many researchers rushed deep into the mainland.

John Oxley was the first serious explorer who surveyed the channels of the rivers Lochlan, Macquarie and several others. Charles Sturt in search of the mythical inland sea, discovers the Darling River, explores the Lochlan and Marambigee river system. John McDual Stuart explores the territories north of Adelaide, Friedrich Leichhardt crosses Cleveland and the Northern Territories, discovering many small rivers and land suitable for agriculture along the way, and in 1858-60 Robert Burke crosses the mainland from north to south for the first time. Nathaniel Buchanan finds vast pastures on the Barkley Plateau, which later became the center of Northern Australia's sheep farming.

In addition to those listed, many other researchers continued to study the mainland, discovering new lands and contributing to the further development of Australia.

Our planet. This continent is located much further from European countries than America, and therefore it was discovered and colonized much later. However, today historians cannot say for sure who was the first to discover. There are several alternative theories that attribute this achievement to different people.

Portuguese exploration of the Indian Ocean

Portugal was a pioneer. In 1488, its sailors were able to reach the eastern tip and were the first in history to sail from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. After the expedition of Vasco de Gama (1497-1499), which brought fabulous income to the country, large-scale exploration of the Indian Ocean began. As early as 1512, the Portuguese reached the Moluccas, also known as the "Spice Islands".

However, Portugal continued to expand its knowledge of the region. In 1522, Cristovan de Mendoza went on an expedition, in the course of which he was supposed to find a certain “Isle of Gold”. There are no documents left about the results of this expedition, but many historians believe that it was within its framework that the first Europeans visited Australia.

What is this theory based on? In 1916, several cannons were discovered on the shores of Roebuck Bay. Each of them had an image of the Portuguese crown, and they were made, according to scientists, at the beginning of the 16th century.

Another proof is the French maps, the earliest of which dates back to 1530. They depict the mythical South Land south of the island of Java. The fact is that for a long time geographers believed that in the very south there is a huge mainland that should balance the land in. There are many entries in Portuguese on French maps, which means that it was compiled from Portuguese sources. Apparently, they considered Australia to be part of that same southern continent. At the same time, it is unlikely that the French themselves, who at that time were not leaders in navigation, independently found Australia before the Portuguese.

The third argument that speaks of the priority of the Portuguese is the geography of their voyages. The island of Timor was settled by them in the 16th century, and it is only 500 km from the Australian coast. It is unlikely that the Portuguese could "not notice" the continent so close to their possessions.

Why was the information about the discovery of a new continent not known to other countries? Probably the Portuguese just kept it secret. Not only they resorted to such practice in the 16th century, but also the Spaniards. After all, Portugal held a monopoly on trade with the Spice Islands and was interested in ensuring that other states did not find out about the sea routes used by its sailors.

Dutch discovery of Australia

At the beginning of the 17th century, Dutch traders began to look for ways to circumvent the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade and therefore began to explore the Indian Ocean. They managed to establish a base on the island of Java, from where, in search of the southern coast of New Guinea, in 1605 Willem Janszon went to sea. However, already in 1606, unexpectedly, he discovered unexplored land in the Arafura Sea. It was a peninsula later named Cape York. Having landed here, the Dutch became the first Europeans to officially visit this mainland. During the survey of the coast of the mainland, they met with local natives and entered into battle with them, and also made a map of the area. However, at that time the Dutch did not yet know that they had discovered a new continent, but believed that they had discovered the unknown coast of New Guinea.

Further exploration of Australia was linked to the sea route known as the Brouwer Route, which was discovered by the Dutch in 1611. It made it possible to get from the Cape of New Hope to the Moluccas in less than six months, while the Portuguese spent a year on it. To pass along this route, after leaving the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, it was necessary not to go along the coast of Africa, but to continue sailing east in southern latitudes. They are also called "roaring forties" because of the strong westerly winds. They allowed them to develop high speed, but there was no geographical landmark along this path that would tell the Dutch captains the moment when it was necessary to turn north. As a result, many of them turned too late and ended up off the western coast of Australia.

In 1616, Derk Hartog, who lost his way, discovered Shark Bay and explored more than 300 km of the western coast of the Australian continent. The bay got its name because a hungry team caught a huge tiger shark in it, which they ate for dinner. In 1619, Frederick de Houtman explored another 700 km of the coast of Australia, and in 1622 and 1627 the cartographer Gessel Gerrits produced the first maps that reflected the Dutch discoveries. In 1623, Jan Carstens discovered the peninsula of Arnhem Land and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Abel Tasman made a huge contribution to the study of Australia, then called New Holland. In 1642, the leadership of the Dutch East India Company set him the task of sailing as far south as New Holland. During the voyage, Tasman managed to discover Van Dimmen Land, which would later be called Tasmania. The Dutchman rounded it from the south, discovering Storm Bay along the way. Abel suggested that the land he discovered was the peninsula of Australia, although in fact Tasmania is an island. Sailing further east, Tasman discovered the two largest islands of New Holland, North and South. Further, the Dutchman turned north, after which he rounded New Guinea from the north and returned to the port of departure. Thus, he completely circled Australia and proved that it was not the mythical South Land.

In 1644, Abel Tasman made another voyage, during which he explored 4700 km of continuous western and northern coasts of Australia. It became clear that all the lands discovered by the Dutch, except for Tasmania, form a single continent. In 1696, Willem de Vlaminck explored part of the southwestern coast of Australia, after which the mainland was not visited by Europeans for many decades.

Expeditions of James Cook and the colonization of the continent

In 1768, Britain organized a round-the-world voyage commanded by James Cook. First, the navigator explored the coast of New Zealand, after which he rushed to Tasmania. However, hurricane-force winds threw it 550 km to the north. As a result, the Briton was the first European to see the eastern coast of Australia. After finding the coast, he sailed north along it. The greatest danger was the Great Barrier Reef, where the ship "Endeavor" received a hole. As a result, the expedition stood for 8 weeks in a place that is now called Cooktown. As a result of the expedition, James Cook declared the entire eastern coast of Australia British territory and gave it the name New South Wales.

The British government decided that criminals could be sent to open lands. On January 18, 1788, 11 ships delivered more than a thousand people to Australia, who made up the population of the first colony on the continent, located on the site of modern Sydney.

In 1797-1799, George Bass surveyed the southeast coast of Australia and found that the coast turns west, not connecting with Van Dimmen's Land. He suggested that Van Dimmen Land is an island, not a peninsula, and later shared this consideration with Matthew Flinders. He, in turn, completely bypassed Tasmania, proving that it was not connected to mainland Australia, after which he assigned her a modern name. During the further voyage, Flinders carefully explored the entire Australian coast, and based on the results of the expedition, in 1814 he published a book in which he proposed using the name Australia - South Land to designate the mainland.

Exploration of the depths of the continent

After exploring the coast of the mainland, it's time to explore it from land. The first expedition in 1794 explored the mountains in the east of the country. In 1813, the British under the command of Wentworth managed to overcome the Blue Mountains and find the source of the Cox River. At the same time, Evans studied the course of the Macquarie and Lachlan rivers. Gradually, the British went deeper and deeper into the mainland.

A landmark in the exploration of Australia was the expedition of Robert Burke and William Wills, which began in 1860. 19 people left Melbourne to the north, and on February 11 they were able to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria. Thus, they crossed the entire mainland from south to north. However, both Berg and Wilson died on the way back.

By the end of the 19th century, the British had almost completely explored the entire continent. The greatest contribution to its study was made by John McKinley, Ernest Giles, John Forrest.

Any student knows where Australia is, but who discovered the southern continent, historians find it difficult to give a definite answer. The Portuguese, Spanish and British are fighting for the palm. But before the Europeans southern continent known in China. And the natives of Indonesia communicated and traded with the natives. Nevertheless, no matter who was the discoverer of the mainland, acquaintance with an amazing and unique country will bring many pleasant minutes and enrich knowledge.

Geographic location of Australia

The Australian continent is located in the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres. The island mainland is washed by the Pacific and Indian oceans. The length of the coastline is 35,877 km. Australia occupies 5% of the Earth's land area and its area is 7,659,861 km². The mainland stretches from east to west for 4 thousand km, and from south to north for 3.2 thousand km.

Extreme geographic points:

1. To the north is Cape York at 10˚ 41'S. and 142˚ 31’ E
2. To the east is Cape Byron, 28˚ 38'S. and 153˚ 38’ E
3. In the south - Cape Saunt Point, 39˚ 08 'S. and 146˚ 22’ E
4. To the west is Steep Point, 26˚ 09'S. and 113˚ 09’ E

The northern regions of the mainland are characterized by a warm and humid subequatorial climate. In the center, located in the tropical zone, dry and hot weather prevails. It rains frequently on the west coast, driven by Pacific trade winds. South Australia has a subtropical climate. The weather in these areas is characterized by slight fluctuations in annual temperatures and moderate rainfall.

On the political map The world can see which countries Australia borders on. In the north, the Torres Strait separates the state from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. New Zealand lies to the southeast across the Tasman Sea. To the south is Antarctica, which does not belong to any country.

The form of government of the Commonwealth of Australia is a federation within the Commonwealth of Nations, led by Great Britain. The nominal head of the country is the Queen, who appoints the Governor General. executive power endowed not with the president, but with the prime minister, who is elected by parliament. The state consists of 6 states and 2 territories. The capital Canberra is located in the Australian Capital Territory in the state of New South Wales.

Native people

The indigenous population is made up of Australian Aborigines, who are called "Australian Bushmen". The settlement of the mainland began about 40 thousand years ago. This time, archaeologists date the discovered human skeleton, which scientists called "Mungo Man." Aboriginal people acquired their modern look about 4 thousand years ago.

The indigenous people belong to the Australoid race. The Europeans who appeared on the continent in the 18th century identified 500 tribes with a total number of 700 thousand people who spoke 200 dialects that are part of the Nyung languages ​​group. The main occupations of the natives were hunting and fishing. By 2000, the number of Aboriginal people had decreased to 437 thousand people. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the movement for the revival of the culture of the Australian Bushmen has been activated. The total population of Australia according to the 2015 census is 23.8 million people.

European settlement

In 1787, the First Fleet arrived in Australia from England, commanded by Arthur Philip. Eleven ships brought 736 convicts. In Port Jackson Bay, sailors landed on 26 January 1788 and began the construction of the first settlement that would later become the city of Sydney. This day became the starting point of the history of the colony of New South Wales. Over the next three years, two more fleets come to the continent with prisoners on board.

Since 1793, free settlers have been coming to the "green continent". On the lands provided free of charge, people begin to engage in agriculture and crafts. At the same time, the labor of convicts is widely used. In search of fertile land, farmers are gradually moving deeper into the continent. TO early XIX century, the colony was already able to provide itself with food.

Discovery history

Ancient geographers hypothesized that in the south of the Earth, where a huge continent is located, countless treasures are hidden. This part of the earth's land was given the name Terra Australis Incognita. In search of an unknown country, expeditions of seafarers are equipped. Mankind makes great geographical discoveries.

What was before the Europeans

Long before the appearance of European sailors on the continent, the natives of the northern regions of Australia were in contact with the tribes that inhabited the neighboring islands. The movement was carried out by boats, and coral reefs served as transshipment points. The similarity of cultures and languages ​​testifies to the ties between the islanders and the inhabitants of the mainland.

Business relations were established between the Australians and the Makassars, a people who lived in southern regions Indonesia. The natives sailed to the mainland to trade with the natives. In addition, the newcomers hunted trepang in the coastal seas.

pioneers

When Vasco da Gama opened a route to India through the African Cape of Good Hope, Portugal concentrated its efforts on the search for the mysterious "Isle of Gold". In 1522, Cristovano de Mendoncé landed on the shore in Roebuck Bay. Two bronze cannons with the Portuguese coat of arms, found by archaeologists in 1960, serve as evidence of the sailors' stay on the mainland. Land areas with names on Portuguese marked on the secret medieval maps of the French Dauphin.

In 1605, a Spanish expedition set off from the Peruvian port of Callao in search of the southern mythical continent. A flotilla of three ships was commanded by Luis Vaez Torres. Having discovered the New Hebrides archipelago, the sailors continued their journey to the west. From the Coral Sea, travelers walked through the strait, which would later be named after the captain. The lands observed in the south were taken by the sailors for the islands, although it was Australia.

Holland, preoccupied with finding ways to Indonesia - the main producer of spices in the Middle Ages - sends a reconnaissance expedition to the shores of New Guinea. In 1605, Willem Janszon on the sailing and rowing vessel "Golubok" set off in search of a short route.

Passing the Arafura Sea in a southwesterly course, the travelers saw the land. It was Australia. And the peninsula, to which the ship approached, would later be called Cape York. On February 26, 1606, sailors land near the mouth of the Pennefather River, as recorded in the logbook. The Dutch landing is considered the first documented visit to Australia. In subsequent years, Jansson's compatriots repeatedly reached the coast of the "green continent".

Dutch navigators who reached Australia:

1. Derk Hartog on October 25, 1616, on the ship "Consent" stopped in Shark Bay in the west of the mainland.
2. In 1619, Captain de Houtman sailed along the west coast from 32° 30' to 28° 45' south latitude. Four years later, the route was repeated by Klas Hermansai on the Leiden.
3. In 1623, the expedition of Carstens and van Colster explored the bay in the north of the mainland, which was named Carpentaria. One of the natives whom the sailors met on the shore was captured and taken on board.
4. Captain F. Theisen on the Gulden Zepard traveled 2,000 kilometers along the southern coast of Australia, making a cartographic survey of the coastline.

William Dampier is considered the first Briton to visit Australia. In 1699, the traveler discovered Shark Bay on the western coast of the continent, however, returning to England, he was shipwrecked off Ascension Island. 70 years later, James Cook's expedition passed along the east coast of the mainland. In 1788, a squadron under the command of Arthur Philip entered Botany Bay. Landed on the shore, the landing force, mainly composed of prisoners, founded a colony - the future city of Sydney.

Journey of James Cook

James Cook was born to a Scottish farmhand in 1728. At the age of 18, the young man gets a job as a sailor on a transport ship carrying coal. The young man thoroughly studies maritime disciplines. In 1755, James became a member of the crew of the military frigate Eagle and participated in the Seven Years' War.

At the age of 29, the future discoverer successfully passes the exam for the title of master. In 1758, the skipper supervised the cartographic survey of the channel of the St. Lawrence River (Canada) in the area of ​​​​combat operations under the fire of French guns. A brilliantly executed operation was one of the reasons why Cook was appointed leader of the voyage to the South Pacific.

The official task of the 1768 expedition was to observe the passage of Venus against the background of the solar disk. In addition to astronomical research, Cook was entrusted with the study of the eastern coast of Australia. The secret part of the order obliged the captain to conduct reconnaissance of the southern seas in order to discover an unknown continent. Geographers assumed that in the polar latitudes there is the so-called Terra Incognita - the Unexplored Earth.

For swimming, Endeavor is selected. The ship, built in 1764, was originally called the "Earl of Pembroke" and was intended to carry coal. The three-masted ship developed a speed of 7.4 knots. In his notes, Cook noted the good seaworthiness and easy handling of the barque.

Endeavor left Plymouth on 26 August. After 227 days, the ship arrived in Tahiti. On June 3, 1769, observations of Venus and astronomical measurements are carried out. During their stay on the island, the team builds a fort and repairs the bottom of the ship. Having finished the first part of the official mission, Cook starts searching for the southern land.

Moving along the west coast of New Zealand, British sailors discovered that the territory consisted of two parts. The strait separating the islands was named after the captain. In the bay, named Queen Charlotte Bay, the Endeavor is being refurbished.

Having reached the southern tip of New Zealand, the expedition turns to the northwest. In the spring of 1770, travelers reached the coast of Australia. The bay where the sailors camped was called Botanical. The bay got its name due to the diversity of plants, previously unknown to science.

Continuing northward, Cook explores the east coast of Australia. On June 11, the ship runs aground and is seriously damaged. After the ballast, spare rigging and part of the guns were thrown overboard, the ship managed to be refloated. The water entering the hold barely managed to be pumped out by continuously operating pumps. The captain orders a stop for the next repair.

Having closed the holes, the Endeavor goes out to sea. It turns out that the Great Barrier Reef does not allow access to the ocean. Mariners have to go along the coast, constantly measuring the depth with a lot. At the same time, the contour of the coastline is drawn on the map.

At the end of 1770, the expedition reached its extreme northern point Australia and turned west. It turned out that between the mainland and New Guinea there is a strait, which was later called the Torres Strait. In January 1771, the ship entered the Indonesian port of Batavia. The modern name of the city is Jakarta.

In Indonesia, the crew is stricken with diseases. First malaria and then dysentery take the lives of sailors. When the ship anchored in the port of Cape Town, only twelve travelers remained on board. When the team was understaffed, the expedition continued on its way to their homeland. On June 12, 1771, the Endeavor berthed at the pier in the port of Plymouth.

The expedition of James Cook half completed the tasks set by the British Admiralty. Measurements taken during the passage of Venus through the solar disk were useful for calculating the distance from the Sun to the Earth. However, the second goal - the discovery of the southern mainland - was not achieved. Nevertheless, sailing on the Endeavour contributed to the development of geographical science.

Results of the first world travel J. Cook:

1. It is established that New Zealand consists of two islands separated by a strait.
2. The east coast of Australia has been mapped for the first time.
3. The strait that separates Australia from New Guinea has been opened.
4. A collection of previously unknown plants has been collected, and sketches of unique animals and birds have been made.

Discovery of New Zealand

Skillful sailors ancient world the tribes that inhabited the islands of Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean were considered. The natives built two-hull pirogues 40 meters long and 10 meters wide. The catamaran, accommodating up to two hundred people, made it possible to overcome thousands of kilometers across the sea.

The Polynesian epic has preserved the names of famous compatriots who made long sea voyages. A folk legend tells of the leader Kupa, who lived on the island of Raiatea in the 10th century. In pursuit of a flotilla of rival fishermen, the navigator reached the current Cook Strait, and described the discovered lands of New Zealand as the "Long White Cloud".

Abel Tasman is believed to be the first European to sail to New Zealand. The future discoverer was born in the Dutch city of Groningen in 1603. From the age of 28 he has been sailing on a ship. In 1634 he became the skipper of a ship owned by the East India Company. In 1642, the Dutch trading syndicate equips an expedition to explore the southeastern regions of the Pacific Ocean. Tasman is entrusted with command of a detachment of two ships.

Off the southern coast of Australia, sailors discover a large island, which is named after the governor of the East Indies, Van Diemen. Subsequently, the name will change to Tasmania. Continuing to the east, the Dutch approach the land not marked on the map. On December 13, sailors disembark. It was the South Island of New Zealand.

A further path along the coast leads the discoverers to the northern tip of Severny Island. Tasman did not turn southeast, but headed towards the Fiji archipelago. Replenishing food supplies on the island and gaining drinking water, the expedition headed for Indonesia. On June 15, the ships entered the port of Batavia.

Going on a trip, a tourist wants to know what is famous and interesting about the visited country. Australia is famous for sights that are unique to it and are one of a kind. First of all, it refers to the Australian nature.

List of plants and animals that are found only in Australia:

• bottle tree;
• eucalyptus regal;
• kangaroo;
• dingo dog;
• echidna;
• marsupial fox and wolf;
• platypus.

The Australian flag has six stars. This is the constellation of the Southern Cross, which indicates that the country is located in the southern hemisphere. The coat of arms of the state includes an ostrich and a kangaroo, which, as you know, move only forward. Animals symbolize forward movement Australian society.

Australia has the most long road no turns. The length of the straight section is 146 km. The country is famous for its endless fences. The most famous wire fence from dingo dogs, 5614 km long, was built in 1885. In the western part of the continent, a fence stretched for 3253 km, which protected from rabbits. A mesh fence is currently being built to restrict the movement of cats. In the summer of 2018, the construction of the first 44 kilometers of the fence was completed.

The political activity of citizens is supported by fines. Non-participation in elections and the census is punishable by the payment of 20 to 100 Australian dollars. By the way, the national currency is presented in a plastic version, and not in paper banknotes.

The landmark of Sydney is the Opera House, built in the style of structural expressionism. The building, which was erected in 1973, has a height of 67 m and covers an area of ​​2.2 hectares. Two halls can simultaneously accommodate 10,000 people. Roof covered with 1 million self-cleaning tiles white color. The construction project was created by the Dane Jorn Utzon.

A visit to the green continent will enrich you with knowledge and give you the experience of communicating with hospitable people. Studying the history of the discovery of Australia, getting to know the unique nature, sightseeing trips around the country will not allow you to regret the time and money spent. Walking around Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne will not let anyone get bored.

Video

The video tells about the discovery of Australia.