The spirit raised by the revolution in the Netherlands, and by the interdict of any trade with Spain issued by the Spaniards, impelled. the Dutch to prosecute commerce and discovery in the East, and thence southwards. All that related to the geography and hydrography of those regions was studied with the utmost diligence, and a race of men arose who became masters in geographic science; Ortelius, Mercator, Planchius, De Bry, Hulsius, Cluverius, and others. Amongst these, none contributed more than Planchius, who opened in Amsterdam a nautical and geographical school to teach pre-eminently all that related to the Spanish possessions in South America and the Indian Ocean. But there was another man, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, who still more opened the eyes, and stimulated the avidity of his country towards Eastern enterprise. He had lived fourteen years in the Portuguese settlements in the East, and had collected immense information regarding that interesting region, which was communicated to his countrymen by the publication of his “Voyages,” in 1618. The result was that the Dutch in 1602 established their East India Company, and soon traded to Batavia, Bantam, Amboyna, Banda, and other places.

From the instructions to Abel Janez Tasman, signed by Governor-General Antonio Van Diemen, for his second voyage in 1644, which instructions came into the hands of Sir Joseph Banks, and were published by Alexander Dalrymple in his collection respecting Papua, we learn, as well as from Purchas, vol. i. p. 385, that this company sent out a yacht, called the Duyfhen, or Dove, on the 18th of November, 1605, from Bantam, to explore the islands and coasts of New Guinea.