Anthony van Diemen

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Anthony van Diemen (Culemborg, 1593– Batavia, 19 April 1645), or Antonius, Dutch colonial governor, was born in Culemborg in the Netherlands, the son of Bartholomeus van Diemen and Elisabeth Hoevenaar. In 1616 he became a merchant and moved to Amsterdam. After a year he became a servant of the Dutch East India Company and sailed to Batavia (Jakarta), capital of the Dutch East Indies.

Governor Jan Pieterszoon Coen found van Diemen to be a talented official and by 1626 he was Director-General of Commerce and member of the Council for the Indies. In 1630 he married Maria van Aelst. A year later he returned to the Netherlands as Admiral on the ship Deventer. In 1632 he returned to Batavia and in 1635 he was appointed Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, his appointment taking effect on 1 January 1636.

Van Diemen's nine years as Governor-General were successful and important for both the colony and the commercial success of the East India Company. He devoted much of his energy to expanding the power of the company throughout Asia. Under his rule Dutch power was established in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Van Diemen is best remembered for his efforts to foster exploration of the land to the south, Australia. He appointed Frans Visscher to draw up a plan for new discoveries. Visscher mapped out three different routes and van Diemen decided in August 1642 to send Abel Janszoon Tasman in search of the Great South Land.

In November 1642 Tasman sighted land (the west coast of the island of Tasmania), and followed the southern coastline around to the east coast. Tasman sent a party ashore at Blackman Bay, on the Tasman Peninsula, who planted a flag and encountered a few of the native inhabitants. Believing he had found a large territory, Tasman named it Van Diemen's Land in honour of his patron. This name was retained when British settlement began there in 1803. It became a byword for horror in England because of the severity of its convict settlements such as Port Arthur and Macquarie Harbour.

The name of Van Diemen's Land had acquired such odium that when it became a self-governing colony in 1855, one of the first acts of the new legislature was to change its name to Tasmania. But the old name lingered for many years—Tasmanians were referred to as Vandemonians until the turn of the century.

Anthony van Diemen died in April 1645 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. The company granted his wife a large pension and she retired to the Netherlands. Her name is perpetuated in the name of the northernmost tip of New Zealand, Cape Maria van Diemen, named by Tasman in 1643, and by Maria Island off the east coast of Tasmania.

Preceded by Hendrik Brouwer

Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies 1636–1645

Succeeded by Cornelis van der Lijn