The Dutch landed in Australia 164 years before Cook.
Willem Janszoon reached Cape York Peninsula in 1606; Cook reached the east coast only in 1770.
The events
- Janszoon lands in Australia1606 · Cape York Peninsula, Australia. In 1606 the Dutch ship Duyfken under Willem Janszoon, searching for gold and spices south of New Guinea, sailed along the west coast of Cape York. It is the first documented European landing in Australia. The encounter with Aboriginal people ended in a clash, and Janszoon judged the coast swampy and barren, assuming it was part of New Guinea.
- Cook's first voyage1768–1771 · Botany Bay. Aboard HMS Endeavour, James Cook observed the transit of Venus in Tahiti, charted New Zealand and in 1770 landed at Botany Bay. He claimed Australia's east coast for the British Crown.
More amazing facts
- 1604 · 1609 The last supernova seen in our galaxy blazed five years before Galileo turned a telescope to the sky. Kepler's star appeared in 1604, and no Milky Way supernova has been reliably seen since.
- 1605 · 1616 Cervantes and Shakespeare died in April 1616 on nearly the same calendar date — but Spain used the Gregorian calendar and England did not, so over a week really separates them.
- 1605 The Mughal emperor Jahangir hung a "chain of justice" with 60 bells outside his palace.
- 1605 · 1606 Europeans first landed in Australia after Don Quixote was published.
- 1608 · 1634 Kepler wrote one of the first works of science fiction — about a journey to the Moon.
- 1608 · 1611 The traveller Thomas Coryat brought the fork to England after seeing it in Italy in 1608.