View source for Willem Janszoon

{{Short description|Dutch navigator and colonial governor (c. 1570 – c. 1630)}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Willem Janszoon Blaeu]] (1571–1638), a contemporary Dutch cartographer}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use shortened footnotes |date=February 2025}}
{{CS1 config |mode=cs1 }}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Willem Janszoon
|birth_date  = {{circa|1570}}
|birth_place = [[Amsterdam]], [[Spanish Netherlands]]
|death_date  = {{circa|1630}} (aged around 60)
|death_place = 
|other_names = {{ubli
|Willem Jansz.
|Willem Jansz
}}
|known_for   = [[Janszoon voyage of 1605–1606|European discovery of Australia]]
|occupation  = [[Navigator]] and [[colonial governor]]
}}
'''Willem Janszoon''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈʋɪləm ˈjɑnsoːn|lang}}; {{circa|1570|1630}}) was a [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] navigator and colonial governor. He served in the [[Dutch East Indies]] in the periods 1603–1611 and 1612–1616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of [[Solor]].{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=43 }} During [[Janszoon voyage of 1605-6|his voyage of 1605–1606]], Janszoon and his crew became the first Europeans known to have seen and landed on the coast of [[Australia (continent)|Australia]].

His name is sometimes abbreviated to '''Willem Jansz''',{{efn |Both without and with the abbreviating period. }}{{efn |name="jansz." |The [[patronymic]] ''Janszoon'' means 'son of Jan', or 'son of Johannes' ({{lang |nl |Janszoon}} in Dutch). In the early seventeenth century, this was in some dialects probably pronounced the same as ''Jansen'', a name equivalent to ''Johnson'' in English. Surnames were usually not used, and children were simply named for their father's given name. In areas where not many people lived, but also in towns and cities, he would simply be given the name ''Willem Janszoon''; thus, all that is known about him is that his father's name was ''Johannes'' or ''Jan''. As in many countries, genealogical and historical research in the Netherlands can be difficult for this reason.{{sfnp |Reynders |2005 }}}} as was customary at his time, but "always pronounced in full and generally still is in the Netherlands where this bit of common knowledge is taught at school."{{sfnp |Reynders |2005 }} However, the abbreviation ''Jansz'' is not the same as the now more predominant unabbreviated but identical ''Jansz'' that is a petrified form of ''Janszoon''.{{efn |name="frozen" |Since the [[Napoleonic era]], petrified (or frozen) patronymic forms of ''Janszoon'', such as ''Jansz'', ''Jansen'', ''Janssen'' and ''Janzen'', have become more predominant than ''Janszoon''.{{sfnp |Reynders |2005 }} However, this happened subsequent to the 17th century, and therefore these shorter and unabbreviated names are not names from the early 17th century.{{sfnp |Reynders |2005 }}}}

==Early life==
Willem Janszoon was born around 1570 as the son of Jan ({{circa|1540)}}, but nothing more is known of his early life nor of his parents. He is first recorded as having entered into the service of the {{lang |nl |Oude compagnie}}, one of the predecessors of the [[Dutch East India Company]] (VOC), in 1598 as a mate aboard ''Hollandia'', part of the [[Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia (1598-1600)|second fleet]] under [[Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck]], dispatched by the Dutch to the [[Dutch East Indies]].{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=13 }} Around 1600 he became the father of Jan Willemsz before setting sail again on 5 May 1601, for the [[East Indies]] as master of ''Lam'', one of three ships in the fleet of [[Joris van Spilbergen]].{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=15 }}

Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the third time on 18 December 1603, as captain of {{ship||Duyfken||2}} (or ''{{langr |nl |Duijfken}}'', meaning {{gloss |little dove}}), one of twelve ships of the great fleet of [[Steven van der Hagen]].{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=17 }} When the other ships left [[Java (island)|Java]], Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in "the great land of New Guinea and other East and Southlands".{{quote without source |date=February 2025}}

==Exploration and discovery==
===First voyage to Australia===
{{main|Janszoon voyage of 1605–1606}}
[[File:StateLibQld 1 117460 Duyfhen (ship).jpg|thumb|upright|19th-century artist impression of the ship {{ship||Duyfken||2}} in the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]]]]

According to historian {{thinspace|J.|E.}} Heeres, {{ship||Duyfken||2|wl=no}} departed from [[Banten (town)|Bantam]] on 18 November 1606 (on the [[Julian calendar]], and 28 November on to the [[Gregorian calendar]]), based on a contemporary account by [[John Saris]]:{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |p=4}}
{{blockquote |text=The eighteenth November 1605 … heere (Bantam) departed a small Pinnasse of the Flemmings, for the discovery of the Land called Nova Guinea which, as it is said, affordeth great store of Gold [...].}}

The ship's log and diary of Janszoon are lost, but what remains is his chart of the voyage. From this we know the journey included passages from Bantam to the [[Banda Islands]], then to the [[Kai Islands]], [[Aru Islands Regency|Aru Islands]], and then eventually to the coast of western [[New Guinea]], the location of what is today's region of [[Yos Sudarso Island|Palau Yos Sudarso]].{{sfnp |Estensen |1998 |p=121}}

After that, Janszoon crossed the eastern end of the [[Arafura Sea]] into the [[Gulf of Carpentaria]], without being aware of the existence of [[Torres Strait]]. {{ship||Duyfken||2|wl=no}} was actually in Torres Strait in February 1606, a few months before Spanish explorer [[Luís Vaz de Torres]] sailed through it. On 26 February 1606, Janszoon made landfall at the [[Pennefather River]] on the western shore of [[Cape York Peninsula|Cape York]] in [[Queensland]], near what is now the town of [[Weipa, Queensland|Weipa]]. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent. Janszoon proceeded to chart some {{convert|320|km}} of the coastline, which he thought was a southerly extension of New Guinea.

Janszoon decided to return at a place he named {{lang |nl |Kaap Keerweer}} ({{lit |Cape Return}}, the name persists as Cape Keerweer), south of Albatross Bay. On his return north he explored the mouth of the Batavia River, what is today called the [[Ducie River]], and although not having been named by Janszoon, it can be identified on his charts.{{sfnp |Estensen |1998 |p=122}}

Information pieced together from [[Jan Carstenszoon]]'s journal from 1623, which alludes to contemporary knowledge of Janszoon's 1606 voyage,{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |p=6}} suggests that the crew went ashore several times to seek information about the land, its peoples and opportunities to trade.{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |pp=43, 45}} Cartenszoon noted a conflict between the [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] people and crew of the Duyfken:{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |p=45}}
{{blockquote |text=on the 11th [of May] we sailed close inshore past a large river [...] which in 1606 the men of the yacht Duijfken went up with the boat, on which occasion one of them was killed [...]. }}

In addition, upon the return of an Indian captain from Banda who relayed the story of "the Flemmings Pinasse" second-hand to John Saris, nine crew were killed in total over the voyage,{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |p=4}}
{{blockquote |text=which went upon discovery of Nova Ginny, was returned to Banda, having found the Iland: but in sending their men on shore to intreate of Trade, there nine of them killed by the Heathens, which are man-eaters; So they were constrained to returne, finding no good to be done there [...].}}

Carstenszoon's 1623 account further adds that the Aboriginal people seemed acquainted with muskets, presuming they had felt their fatal effects earlier in 1606.{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |p=43}} It seems clear that Duyfken's crew engaged in conflict with Aboriginal people, making the first European landfall a violent one. However, the specific details and timings of the other eight deaths are not clear, having possibly occurred earlier in New Guinea and Australia. Historian Miriam Estensen reconstructs the events to suggest that the other eight deaths occurred first at [[Yos Sudarso Island]] in New Guinea, and that by the time of this final conflict at Ducie River approximately half the crew remained, precipitating the decision to return.{{sfnp |Estensen |1998 |p=121}} However, more recent interpretations by the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre that draw on both the Dutch archived material and stories from Aboriginal elders, suggest that prior conflict at Cape Keerweer lead to three crew deaths, substantiating the reason to turn back at this location.{{sfnp|Dutch Australian Cultural Centre|2023}} The remaining five deaths are thought to have occurred on the return leg as part of a landing at [[Yos Sudarso Island]] in New Guinea, where a clash over water and firewood occurred with local people.{{sfnp|Dutch Australian Cultural Centre|2023}} This is the opposite timeline to that described by Estensen, who places eight crew deaths on the island during the first visit.{{sfnp |Estensen |1998 |p=122}} The situation is further obscured by Australian Aboriginal oral traditions, with some accounting for all nine deaths at Cape Keerweer.{{sfnp|Gerritsen|Wensley|Ruigrok|Guivarra|2015|p=36}}

<!-- TODO: add the final stops on the islands to the north -->Having lost men through open hostility and 
absent of rewards or even evidence for the riches that motivated the journey, Janszoon returned to Banda by June of 1606.{{sfnp |Heeres |2006 |p=4}}

He called the land he had discovered {{lang |nl |Nieu Zelant}}, or {{lang |nl |Nieu Zeelandt}},{{sfnp |Jansson |Jansson |1630 }} after the Dutch province of [[Zeeland]], but the name was not adopted, and was later used by Dutch cartographers for [[New Zealand]].

In 1607, Admiral [[Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge]] sent Janszoon to [[Ambon Island|Ambon]] and [[Banda Islands|Banda]].{{sfnp |Serle |1949 |loc=Jansz or Janssen, Willem }} In 1611, Janszoon returned to the [[Netherlands]], believing that the south coast of New Guinea was joined to the land along which he had sailed, and Dutch maps reproduced that error for many years.{{sfnp |Scott |1916 |loc=chapter 2}}

===Second voyage to Australia===
Janszoon reported that on 31 July 1618 he had landed on an island at 22° South with a length of 22 miles{{efn |Presumably the [[Mile#Dutch|common Dutch mile]] preferred by mariners. At the time, each such mile was either {{convert|5,660|m}} or {{convert|6,280|m}}; that is, the island was either {{convert|{{#expr:(22*5660/1000) round 0}}|km}} or {{convert|{{#expr:(22*6280/1000) round 0}}|km}} long.}} and 240 miles south-southeast of the [[Sunda Strait]].{{sfnp |Heeres |1899 |p=13 }} This is generally interpreted as a description of the peninsula from [[Point Cloates]] ({{coord|22|43|S|113|40|E}}) to [[North West Cape]] ({{coord|21|47|S|114|09|E}}) on the [[Western Australia]]n coast, which Janszoon presumed was an island without fully circumnavigating it.{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=46 }}

==Political==
[[File:Gerritsz Nueva Guinea 1622.JPG|thumb|Willem Janszoon’s Vliege Bay, Dubbelde Rev., R. Visch, and Cape Keerweer on the coast of ''Nueva Guinea'' on [[Hessel Gerritszoon]]’s map of the Pacific Ocean, 1622]]

Around 1617–1618, he was back in the Netherlands and was appointed as a member of the [[Council of the Indies (Dutch)|Council of the Indies]]. He served as admiral of the Dutch Defence fleet.{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=49 }} Janszoon was awarded a gold chain worth 1,000 [[guilder]]s in 1619, equivalent to {{Euro|{{Inflation|EU| {{Inflation|NL|1000|1619|2002|r=3}}|2002|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation/year|EU}}, for his part in capturing four ships of the [[British East India Company]] near [[Pulau Tikus|Tiku]] on [[West Sumatra]], which had aided the [[Javanese people|Javanese]] in their defence of the town of [[Jakarta]] against the Dutch.{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=48 }} In 1620, he was one of the negotiators with the English. In a combined fleet, they sailed to Manila to prevent Chinese merchants dealing with the Spanish. Janszoon became vice-admiral, and the year later admiral.{{sfnp |Forsyth |1967 }} Near the end of his life, Janszoon served as governor of Banda (1623{{ndash}}1627).{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=50 }}{{sfnp |Mutch |1942 |p=51 }} He is thought to have died in 1630.

==Records==
The original journal and log made during Janszoon’s 1606 voyage have been lost. The Duyfken chart,{{sfnp |Duyfken chart |1670 }} which shows the location of the first landfall in Australia by {{ship||Duyfken||2|wl=no}}, had a better fate. It was still in existence in Amsterdam when [[Hessel Gerritszoon]] made his map of the Pacific in 1622, and placed {{ship||Duyfken||2|wl=no}} geography upon it, thus providing us with the first map to contain any part of Australia. The chart was still in existence around 1670, when a copy was made. This eventually went to the [[Österreichische Nationalbibliothek|Imperial Library]] in [[Vienna]] and remained forgotten for two hundred years. The map is part of the ''[[Atlas Blaeu]] Van der Hem'', brought to Vienna in 1730 by [[Prince Eugene of Savoy]]. The information from his charts was included in the marble and copper maps of the [[wikt:hemisphere|hemispheres]] on the floor of The Citizens' Hall of the [[Royal Palace]] in [[Amsterdam]].{{sfnp |South Land to New Holland |2006 }}{{deep link needed |date=February 2025}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist |20em}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin |30em |indent=yes}}
*{{cite map |ref={{sfnref |Duyfken chart |1670 }} |title=Dese Pascaerte vertoont de wegh, soo int heen als in het weerom seylen, die gehouden is bij het Jacht het Duijfien in het besoecken van de landen beoosten Banda, tot aen Nova Guinea, Maer Guili-guli op Cenam, ende Caram etc, is na de afteijckeninge van Abraham Francken A°. 1602. den 20 April gedaen, Ende Nieuw Zelandt met de Gounongapi daer beoosten is beseijlt, bij Jasper Janssen de Jonge |trans-title=This chart shows the routes taken by the pinnace Duyfken on the outward as well as on the return voyage when she visited the countries east of Banda up to New Guinea. But Guli Guli on Ceran and Ceram, etc is after the survey drawn by Abraham Francken anno 1602, done 20 April, and Nieuw Zelant with the Gunung Api east of there has been sailed about by Jasper Janssen de Jonge |year=1670 |via=[[Austrian National Library|Österreichische Nationalbibliothek]]. Bildarchiv |publisher=s.n |location=Amsterdam |oclc=455936201 |url=https://collections.slq.qld.gov.au/viewer/IE423741 |hdl=10462/deriv/200764 |access-date=2025-02-10 }}
*{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=J. W. |last=Forsyth |author-link= |title=Janssen, Willem (fl. 1603 - 1628) |volume=2 |year=1967 |id2=janssen-willem-2270 |access-date=2025-02-10 }}
*{{cite Q |Q133908667 |last=Heeres |first=Jan Ernst }}{{sfn whitelist |CITEREFHeeres1899 }}
*{{cite Q |Q132175190 |last=Heeres |first=Jan Ernst }}{{sfn whitelist |CITEREFHeeres2006 }}
*{{cite map |last1=Jansson |first1=Jan |last2=Jansson |first2=Jan |author2-link=Jan Janssonius |title=Indiae Orientalis nova descriptio |year=1630 
|language=la |scale=c. 1:11,000,000 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Apud Joannem Janssonium |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232492036 |access-date=2025-02-10 |via=Trove }}
*{{cite book |last=Estensen |first=Miriam |year=1998 |title=Discovery: The Quest for the Great South Land |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=St Leonards, NSW, Australia |isbn=1864484977 }}
*{{cite book |last=Mutch |first=Thomas Davies |author-link=Thomas Mutch |title=The First Discovery of Australia; With an Account of the Voyage of the "Duyfken" and the Career of Captain Willem Jansz |publisher=Thomas Davies Mutch |location=Sydney |year=1942 |via=[[Project Gutenberg Australia]] |url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600631h.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214202335/http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600631h.html |archive-date=2020-02-14 |access-date=2020-04-05 |oclc=1058014886 }}
*{{cite web |last=Reynders |first=Peter |date=2005-07-31 |title=Note regarding correct English usage when writing Dutch surnames |website=[[Project Gutenberg of Australia]] |url=https://gutenberg.net.au/dutch-note.html |access-date=2025-02-10 }}
*{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Ernest|author-link=Ernest Scott|title=A short History of Australia|publisher=[[Project Gutenberg of Australia]]|date=16 July 1916|location=Melbourne|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200471h.html}}
*{{cite Q |Q5273962 |last=Serle |first=Percival |author-link=Percival Serle |chapter=JANSZ or JANSSEN, WILLEM (c. 1570-after 1629) |chapter-url=https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogI-K.html#jansz1 }}{{sfn whitelist |CITEREFSerle1949 }}
*{{cite web |ref={{sfnref |South Land to New Holland |2006 }} |title=South Land to New Holland |website=South Land to New Holland |date=2006-09-22 |via=National Library of Australia |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/southland/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20060922010001/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/60542/20060914-0000/www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/southland/index.html |archive-date=22 September 2006 |access-date=2025-02-10 }}
*{{cite web
|ref={{sfnref |Dutch Australian Cultural Centre |2023 }}
 | title = First contact between the Dutch and the Aboriginal People
 | website = Dutch Australian Cultural Centre
 | date = 25 February 2023
 | url = https://dutchaustralianculturalcentre.com.au/news/first-contacts-between-the-dutch-and-the-aboriginal-people/
 | access-date = 2025-09-28
}}
* {{cite book
 | last1=Gerritsen
 | first1=Rupert
 | title=The Duyken: unveiling the first contact memorial
 | edition=2nd
 | publisher=Australia on the Map (Australasian Hydrographic Society); Western Australian Museum; Netherlands Embassy (Australia)
 | year=2015
 | isbn=978-1-925040-13-5 |oclc=899445666
 | editor1-last=Gerritsen
 | editor1-first=Rupert
|first2=Penelope |last2=Wensley
|first3=Annemieke |last3=Ruigrok
|first4=Peter |last4=Guivarra
|first5=Colin |last5=Sheehan
|first6=Evan |last6=McHugh
|first7=Jack Spear |last7=Karntin
|first8=Graeme |last8=Cocks
|first9=Geoff |last9=Wharton
}}
{{Refend}}

{{subject bar |auto=0 |portal1=Netherlands |portal2=Biography }}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janszoon, Willem}}
[[Category:1570s births]]
[[Category:1630 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Dutch explorers]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch explorers]]
[[Category:Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic]]
[[Category:Explorers of Australia]]
[[Category:Explorers of Indonesia|J]]

[[Category:Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company]]
[[Category:17th-century Dutch colonial governors]]
[[Category:Dutch East India Company people from Amsterdam]]
[[Category:Dutch maritime navigators]]