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 | | Dutch seaman Abel Tasman, commissioned by Anthony van Diemen*, (Governor General of the Dutch East Indies), 'discovered' Tasmania in 1642, and named the island van Diemen's Land, in his honour. |
 | | Two hundred years later, the name was changed to Tasmania, in recognition of the explorer, rather than the administrator. |
 | | Tasman wrote:- "This land being the first we have met with in the South Seas, and not known to any other European nation, we have conferred on it the name of Anthony van Diemen's Land, in honour of the Honourable Governor General, our illustrious master, who sent us to make this discovery". |
| www.diemenpepper.com /vandiemen.html (153 words) |
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