The Council of Batavia in 1642 dispatches Abel Tasman and Franchoijs Visscher on a voyage of which one of the objects is to obtain knowledge of "all the totally unknown provinces of Beach".

Beach appears on maps of the time, notably that of Abraham Ortelius of 1570 and that of Jan Huygen van Linschoten of 1596, as the northernmost part of the southern continent, the Terra Australis, along with Locach.

According to Marco Polo, Locach was a kingdom where gold was “so plentiful that no none who did not see it could believe it”.

Beach was in fact a mistranscription of Locach, Marco Polo’s name for the southern Thai kingdom of Lavo, or Lop Buri, the “city of Lavo”, (after Lavo, the son of Rama in Hindu mythology).

In Chinese (Cantonese), Lavo was pronounced “Lo-huk”, from which Marco Polo took his rendition of the name.

In the German cursive script, “Locach” and “Beach” look similar, and in the 1532 edition of Marco Polo’s Travels published by Simon Grynaeus and Johann Huttich, his Locach had been changed to Boëach, later shortened to Beach.

Linschoten’s very popular 1596 map of the East Indies showed BEACH projecting from the map’s southern edge, leading (or mis-leading) Visscher and Tasman, in their voyage of 1642, to seek Beach with its plentiful gold in a location to the south of the Solomon Islands somewhere between Staten Land near Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.

Confirmation that land exists where the maps show Beach to be had come from Dirk Hartog’s landing in October 1616 on its west coast, which he called Eendrachtsland after the name of his ship.

In accordance with Visscher's directions, Tasman sails first to Mauritius.

The reason for this is that his ships are sailing ships and the best route from one place to another is not always the direct route; of more importance is the direction of the wind.

Tasman has some knowledge of the prevailing winds and so he chooses Mauritius as a turning point and from there a course is set towards what is presumed to be the mainland of Beach, or Terra Australis. (At least part of the western shore of the continent is already known to the Dutch, but the shape of the southern coast is unknown).

Abel Janszoon Tasman A Dutch East India Company navigator commanding a two-vessel expedition meant to map “the remaining unknown part of the terrestrial globe in 1642, sails a course too far south and misses Australia completely.

He sails on to discover an island in the southwest which he names Van Diemen’s land, after his boss, empire builder Anton van Diemen, Governor General of the Dutch East India Company.

He stops briefly on the island, thinking it a part of the mainland, and finds it poor and wild with signs of habitation but no visible populace.

Tasman sights the west coast of Tasmania, north of Macquarie Harbour, on November 24, 1642.

He names his discovery Van Diemen's Land after Anthony van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

Proceeding south, Tasman skirts the southern end of Tasmania and turns northeast, now trying to work his two ships into Adventure Bay on the east coast of South Bruny Island where he is blown out to sea by a storm; this area he names Storm Bay.

Tasman anchors two days later to the North of Cape Frederick Hendrick just north of the Forestier Peninsula.

Tasman next lands in Blackman Bay—in the larger Marion Bay.

n attempt is made the next day to land in North Bay; however, because the sea is too rough the carpenter swims through the surf and plants the Dutch flag in North Bay.

Tasman claims formal possession of the land on December 3, 1642.

Tasman had intended, after some exploration, to proceed in a northerly direction but as the wind is unfavorable he steers east.

They sight land on December 13 on the northwest coast of the South Island, New Zealand, becoming the first Europeans to do so.

Tasman names it Staten Landt on the assumption that it is connected to an island (Staten Island, Argentina) at the south of the tip of South America.

Proceeding north and then east one of Tasman’s boats is attacked by Māori in waka, and four of his men are killed.

Tasman names it Murderers' Bay (now known as Golden Bay) and sails north.

Abel Tasman mistakes Cook Strait for a bight (naming it Zeehaen's Bight).

Abel Tasman, on his way back to Batavia, comes upon the Tongan archipelago on January 20, 1643.

Two names that Abel Tasman bestows in January 1643 on New Zealand landmarks endure today: Cape Maria van Diemen, named after the wife of his patron, Anthony van Diemen, Governor General of Batavia (now Jakarta), and ...

...Three Kings Islands (Cabo Pieter Boreels is now known as Cape Egmont).

Most Maori live in the warm climate of the upper North Island at the time of Tasman’s visit.