Homework Help: Social Studies: World History: Australian Early Visitors

Quick Facts

• in 1605 Pedro Di Quiros led his spanish fleet from Lima in Peru to Manilla in the Phillipines where the spanish had developed a colony.
• both the Phillipines and Peru were spanish colonies.
• some information shows that Macassan fisherman came to Australia and interacted with aborigines, but the portuguese were most likely the first 'official' people to discover Australia.
• The Phillipines is named after King Phillip the 2nd, and the gulf of Carpentaria named after Pieter De Carpentier.
• 'Terra Australis' the latin term for great unknown land was first brought up by Mathew Flinders.

Visitors from Macassar

Before 1788 there is evidence suggesting that aborigines were in contact with people other than themselves. It is believed that Macassan fisherman would often goto places such as Arnhem Land and as far west as the Kimberly Region. There are certain locations in Arnhem Land that have names linking to the Macassan language. Aborigines would often smoke tobacco pipes just as the fishermen from Macassa did.Aboriginal bark paintings have been discovered which depict aspects of Macassan culture. Perhaps Tamarind trees which grow widely in Indonesia were imigrated to where they grow off the northern Australian coast today.

Homework Help: Social Studies: World History

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