Jan Carstenszoon

Jan Carstenszoon (also known by the abbreviation of his patronym Carstensz or Carstensz. [ [http://gutenberg.net.au/dutch-note.html note on 17thC Dutch Surnames] ] ) was a Dutch explorer, of whose life little is known.

In 1623, he was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to lead an expedition to the southern coast of New Guinea and beyond, to follow up the reports of land sighted further south in the 1606 voyages of Willem Janszoon in the "Duyfken".

Setting sail from Amboyna in the Dutch East Indies with two ships, the "Pera" and "Arnhem", Carstenszoon navigated the Gulf of Carpentaria. Landing in search of fresh water for his stores, he encountered a party of the local indigenous Australian inhabitants. Carstenszoon described them as "poor and miserable looking people" who had "no knowledge of precious metals or spices".

On May 8, 1623, Carstenszoon and his crew fought a skirmish with 200 Aborigines at the mouth of a small river near Cape Duyfken (named after Janszoon's vessel which had earlier visited the region) and landed at the Pennefather River. He named the small river Carpentier River, and the Gulf of Carpentaria in honour of Pieter de Carpentier, at that time Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.

Carstensz Pyramid, Irian Jaya, Indonesia was named by him. He sighted the glaciers on the peak of the mountain in 1623. Carstenszoon was ridiculed in Europe when he said he had seen snow near the equator.

He also named several other features along Australia's north coast.

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