November 24, 2006
Tasmania Sighted by Dutch
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Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to sight the island of Tasmania, off the coast of Australia. He named it Anthoonij van Diemenslandt, after his sponsor, the Governor of the Dutch East Indies. In 1803, Great Britain took possession of the island and established a penal colony there. The indigenous population numbered about 5,000 at the time of colonization but were subsequently decimated, leaving only a few mixed-race survivors. Who was the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine?
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