WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In late February and early March 1606 Willem Janszoon, captain of the Dutch East India Company ship the Duyfken, became the first European to make recorded contact with and map part of the Australian continent.

Detailed explanation-2: -While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.

Detailed explanation-3: -Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated, what is now called Torres Strait and associated islands. Twenty-nine other Dutch navigators explored the western and southern coasts in the 17th century and named the continent New Holland.

Detailed explanation-4: -First voyage to Australia On 26 February 1606, Janszoon made landfall at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York in Queensland, near what is now the town of Weipa. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent.

Detailed explanation-5: -The first known European explorer to visit the region was Dutch Willem Janszoon (also known as Willem Jansz) on his 1605–06 voyage.