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Endeavour Strait
The Endeavour Strait is a strait running between the Australian mainland Cape York Peninsula and Prince of Wales Island in the extreme south of the Torres Strait, in northern Queensland, Australia. It was named in 1770 by explorer James Cook, after his own vessel, HMS ''Endeavour'', and he used the strait as passage out to the Indian Ocean on his voyage. Geography The Endeavour Strait is approximately in length from its northernmost tip to its southern extremities, and varies from in breadth. The strait is, on average, between deep, and its sandy floor is carpeted with a moderately thick layer of coral. The strait is generally safe to travel through, and is not littered with any major sunken dangers or foul ground, although, for larger vessels, there is potential danger at the strait's western end, at the point that it connects with the Arafura Sea, where the depth of the water is only around . The danger that this shallow western point presents was a barrier that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land area is . The Islands have been inhabited by the indigenous Torres Strait Islanders. Lieutenant James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia at Possession Island in 1770, but British administrative control only began in the Torres Strait Islands in 1862. The islands are now mostly part of Queensland, a constituent State of the Commonwealth of Australia, but are administered by the Torres Strait Regional Authority, a statutory authority of the Australian federal government. A few islands very close to the coast of mainland New Guinea belong to the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, most importantly Daru Island with the provincial capital, Daru. Only 16 of the islands are inhabited. The Torres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by the Southern Ocean or Antarctica, depending on the definition in use. Along its core, the Indian Ocean has some large marginal or regional seas such as the Arabian Sea, Laccadive Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea. Etymology The Indian Ocean has been known by its present name since at least 1515 when the Latin form ''Oceanus Orientalis Indicus'' ("Indian Eastern Ocean") is attested, named after India, which projects into it. It was earlier known as the ''Eastern Ocean'', a term that was still in use during the mid-18th century (see map), as opposed to the ''Western Ocean'' ( Atlantic) before the Pacific was surmised. Conversely, Chinese explorers in the Indian Ocean during the 15th century called it the Western Oceans. In Anci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theory Of Portuguese Discovery Of Australia
The theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia claims that early Portuguese navigators were the first Europeans to sight Australia between 1521 and 1524, well before the arrival of Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606 on board the who is generally considered to be the first European discoverer. While lacking generally accepted evidence, this theory is based on the following: * The Dieppe maps, a group of 16th-century French world maps, depict a large landmass between Indonesia and Antarctica. Labelled as Java la Grande, this landmass carries French, Portuguese, and Gallicized Portuguese placenames, and has been interpreted by some as corresponding to Australia's northwestern and eastern coasts. * The proximity of Portuguese colonies in Southeast Asia from , particularly Portuguese Timor which is approximately from the Australian coast. * Various antiquities found on Australian coastlines, claimed by some to be relics of early Portuguese voyages to Australia but whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torres Strait Regional Authority
The Torres Strait Regional Authority is an Australian Government body established in 1994 to administer the Torres Strait Islands. It consists of 20 elected representatives. The primary function of the authority is to strengthen the economic, social and cultural development of the peoples of the Torres Strait area. The islands The Torres Strait Islands lie to the north of Tropical Queensland's Cape York Peninsula and comprise 274 small islands, of which 17 are inhabited, located in Torres Strait which separates Australia and Papua New Guinea. Each island community elects a member to the Torres Strait Regional Authority. Thursday Island (Waiben) and Horn Island (Nurupai) are the most well-known of the Torres Strait Islands. Activities on the islands are quite traditional, with fishing being the major economic activity. To travel to the remote islands (other than Thursday and Horn Islands) permission is required from the Torres Strait Island Regional Council. The five major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaurareg
Kaurareg (alt. Kauraraiga, plural Kauraraigalai, Kauraregale) is the name for one of the Indigenous Australian groups collectively known as Torres Strait Islander peoples, although many or most identify as Aboriginal Australians. They are the traditional owners of Thursday Island (Waiben) as well as a number of Torres Strait Islands. The Kaurareg are lower Western Islanders, based on the Muralag group. In common with the other peoples of the Torres Strait Island, they commanded impressive sailing outrigger canoe technology, traded throughout the Straits, fishing and trading with other Torres Strait Island groups. Similarly, they also regularly visited the Australian mainland of Cape York Peninsula, and retained ceremonial, marriage and trading alliances with several Aboriginal groups there. However they have been displaced many times since colonisation in the late 1800s. Subject to reprisals after being blamed for an incident in which a Western schooner and its crew were destr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torres Strait Islanders
Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people living in mainland Australia (nearly 28,000) than on the Islands (about 4,500). There are five distinct peoples within broader designation of Torres Strait Islander people, based partly on geographical and cultural divisions. There are two main Indigenous language groups, Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir. Torres Strait Creole is also widely spoken, as a language of trade and commerce. The core of Island culture is Papuo-Austronesian and the people traditionally a seafaring nation. There is a strong artistic culture, particularly in sculpture, printmaking and mask-making. Demographics In June 1875 a measles epidemic killed about 25% of the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Thompson (castaway)
Barbara Crawford Thompson (1831–1912) was a Scottish woman who, as a teenaged girl, survived a shipwreck in the Torres Strait Islands of Australia and spent five years living with the local Kaurareg people. She was possibly the sole survivor of the November 1844 wreck of the cutter ''America'', which ran onto Madjii Reef at Horn Island, Queensland, Horn Island in Endeavour Strait near Cape York Peninsula, Cape York, Queensland. Early life She was born Barbara Crawford in Dundee, Scotland. She emigrated with her family to New South Wales on the immigrant ship ''John Barry (1814 ship), John Barry'' which reached Sydney on 13 July 1837. The occupation of her father Charles Crawford was given as tinsmith. Shipwreck At the time of the shipwreck, Barbara Crawford Thompson had lived for twenty months in Brisbane with her lover Captain William Thompson as his ''de facto'' wife. The cutter ''America'' left Moreton Bay to salvage whale oil from the wreck of a whaler lost on the Bampt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willem Janszoon
Willem Janszoon (; ), sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 16031611 and 16121616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of Solor. During his voyage of 16051606, he became the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia. Early life Willem Janszoon (Willem Jansz) was born around 1570 as the son of Jan (, but nothing more is known of his early life or of his parents. Janszoon is first recorded as entering into the service of the ''Oude compagnie'', one of the predecessors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), in 1598 as a mate aboard the , part of the second fleet under Jacob Cornelisz. van Neck, dispatched by the Dutch to the Dutch East Indies.Mutch (1942), p13 Around 1600 he became the father of Jan Willemsz before setting sail again on 5 May 1601, for the East Indies as master of the ''Lam'', one of three ships in the fleet of Joris van Spi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England (which included Wales) and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single parliament at the Palace of Westminster, but distinct legal systems – English law and Scots law – remained in use. The formerly separate kingdoms had been in personal union since the 1603 "Union of the Crowns" when James VI of Scotland became King of England and King of Ireland. Since James's reign, who had been the first to refer to himself as "king of Great Britain", a political union between the two mainland British kingdoms had been repeatedly attempted and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th century, Holland proper was a unified political region within the Holy Roman Empire as a county ruled by the counts of Holland. By the 17th century, the province of Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, dominating the other provinces of the newly independent Dutch Republic. The area of the former County of Holland roughly coincides with the two current Dutch provinces of North Holland and South Holland into which it was divided, and which together include the Netherlands' three largest cities: the capital city (Amsterdam), the home of Europe's largest port ( Rotterdam), and the seat of government (The Hague). Holland has a population of 6,583,534 as of November 2019, and a population density of 1203/km2. The name ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of very many genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. Each polyp excretes an exoskeleton near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a skeleton characteristic of the species which can measure up to several meters in size. Individual colonies grow by asexual reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning: polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously overnight, often around a full moon. Fertilized eggs form planulae, a mobile early form of the coral polyp which, when matu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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