The search for the southern continent

The ancient scientists were talking about land in the southern hemisphere, and the map of Ptolemy, they occupy all the space around the South Pole and are connected to the west of Africa and the East to Asia. So it was on the map of Ptolemy. But he was wrong, because it already knew - Africa bordered by the ocean. The question of the Tierra del Fuego was a coincidence, since resolved the English pirate Francis Drake He attacked Spanish ships off the coast of America. At the end of 1577 Drake walked along the path of Magellan. After passing the strait in 1578, they were going out into the Pacific Ocean to the three ships were in a fierce storm, which lasted 52 days. One ship was missing, the other was thrown back by the storm in the Strait of Magellan and went to England, and the ship on which he sailed Drake, drifted five degrees to the south he found south of Tierra del Fuego near Cape Horn. It became clear that Tierra del Fuego, the southern continent is not. A stretch of water south of it later became known as the Drake Passage. Plundering the coast of South America's few Spanish ships with gold and silver, Drake crossed the Pacific and Indian oceans, and came to England. It took him two years and 10 months to make a second circumnavigation after the expedition Magelanna El Cano. But the sailors continued to aggressively seek the legendary southern continent. As a result of voyages of Alvaro Saavedra, Ruy Lopez Villa Lovasz, Andres Urdanetty, Alvaro Mendanya, Pedro Quiros and Luis Torres EAEC was discovered many islands in the Pacific Ocean. But the southern mainland and did not appear. And only in the years 1642-1643 Dutchman Abel Tasmania lucky enough to see land for the 40 th parallel. He sailed from the island of Mauritius to the south, went behind the fortieth parallel and abruptly veered to the east. On stormy waters of the fortieth parallels Tasman went from 60 to 140 meridian, and soon came to the mainland, now bears his name - the island of Tasmania. And then the Tasman named it Van Diemen's land. Further to the east Tasman met another vast land, which he called the Earth states (New Zealand). In 1644 Tasman described the northern coast of Australia from Cape York to the southern tropics and has made a detailed map. Thus was opened this Southern continent - "Terra Australis Incognita" - Australia and neighboring New Zealand. This important discovery Tasman Dutch authorities zasekretili that other countries could seize the southern lands. And only in the 18 th century Englishman James Cook again "discovered" Australia and New Zealand and announced their colonies of England.