http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/18517060/rare-documents-unveiled-by-state-library-of-nsw-showing-spanish-quest-to-find-australia/ (http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/18517060/rare-documents-unveiled-by-state-library-of-nsw-showing-spanish-quest-to-find-australia/)
More than 400 years ago, an explorer pleaded with the King of Spain to fund a daring expedition to a land he said he had discovered in the Pacific.
Pedro Fernandes de Queires said the great southern land he had found was full of spices, nutmeg and cinnamon.
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Queires named the discovery Austrialia del Espiritu Santo (the Southern Land of the Holy Spirit), before sailing back to Mexico.
The Portuguese-born explorer then returned to Madrid in 1607 and began petitioning King Philip III of Spain.
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... King Philip III ignored his requests. [more ... (http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/18517060/rare-documents-unveiled-by-state-library-of-nsw-showing-spanish-quest-to-find-australia/)]
There's more evidence than just an old map for Pedro Fernandes de Queires discovery of Australiahttp://www.mysteriousaustralia.com/carving_a_new_history.html (http://www.mysteriousaustralia.com/carving_a_new_history.html)
Fun Discovery FactsIn 1623, the Dutch captain Jan Carstensz was sent to sail around the Gulf of Carpentaria (the Northeast point of Australia). Captain Carstensz and his crew encountered many Indigenous people and there were violent clashes between the two groups. Several Indigenous people were captured and taken back to the boats.
Carstensz wrote that the Indigenous people were 'more miserable and insignificant that I have ever seen in my life'.Controversy: The Dieppe MapsThe Dieppe maps are a series of world maps produced in Dieppe, France, in the 1540s, 1550s and 1560s. They are large hand-produced maps, commissioned for wealthy and royal patrons, including Henry II of France and Henry VIII of England.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Guillaume_Brouscon._World_chart%2C_which_includes_America_and_a_large_Terra_Java_(Australia)._HM_46._PORTOLAN_ATLAS_and_NAUTICAL_ALMANAC._France%2C_1543.jpg/350px-Guillaume_Brouscon._World_chart%2C_which_includes_America_and_a_large_Terra_Java_(Australia)._HM_46._PORTOLAN_ATLAS_and_NAUTICAL_ALMANAC._France%2C_1543.jpg)
1543 map showing the West and South coasts of Australia with Tasmania, New Guinea and possibly New Zealand connected to Australia.
Debating the Portuguese discovery of Australiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_maps#Debates_over_the_theory_of_Portuguese_discovery_of_Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_maps#Debates_over_the_theory_of_Portuguese_discovery_of_Australia)