For some reason, most people believe in the myth that Australia was discovered at the end of the 18th century by James Cook, who was immediately eaten by many aborigines distressed by this fact. But this is not at all the case. Firstly, Cook died in the Hawaiian Islands, and secondly, Australia was discovered much earlier - it was visited by the ancient Egyptians!
Australis incognita
Even in ancient Greece, separate opinions appeared that somewhere in the ocean there must be some unknown southern continent. An active promoter of this idea was Ptolemy, who more than once misled the minds of gullible ancient Greeks. He drew this continent on his map. Later they came up with a beautiful name for him - Terra australis incognita, an unknown southern land, and under this mysterious name he appeared for many years on the maps, exciting the minds of explorers and sailors ….
Many of them tried to find the alluring Terra australis, but all searches were unsuccessful. The names of these unknown brave travelers, who embarked at their own peril and risk in sailing to unknown places, have sunk into eternity … Some of them returned to their homeland, and someone died during storms, from clashes with the natives. But those who returned brought with them salted maps, on which new lands, islands, archipelagos were drawn with a trembling hand. However, Terra australis has never been found. Nevertheless, the western coast of the mainland was listed on one map in 1542 under the name of Great Java.
In the Middle Ages, interest in the still undiscovered southern continent did not fade away. According to the then existing theories, it was believed that a huge continent simply must be in the Pacific Ocean, otherwise the Earth would inevitably topple over under the exorbitant weight of Europe, Asia and Africa …
Geographers even drew up a rough plan of this land. According to them, Terra australis had an area of 180 square kilometers! (which is much larger than the actual size of Australia).
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Many reigning persons showed interest in the southern mainland, on which countless treasures simply had to be.
Expeditions to the glory of kings and queens were equipped, but all attempts to find Terra australis incognita ended in failure.
New Holland
The situation changed only at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1606, the Spaniard Luis de Torres returned to his homeland with stories of how he saw "the great southern continent." He passed along New Guinea along the strait that later received his name. In the same year, the East India Company sent an expedition to explore New Guinea led by the Dutchman Willem Janszon. The overclocked Jansson did not notice the Torres Strait on the map and ended up off the coast of Australia. For a long time he took these shores for New Guinea, and this is probably why his fame as the discoverer of Australia is so modest that few people know about it. Later this land was called New Holland, but no one believed that this was Terra australis incognita.
In Europe, Janszon's discovery met with almost no response. He did not bring stories about diamonds, gold placers, huge pearls and other riches and treasures. His memoranda and travel maps were kept in archives for a long time, and the world knew little about Yansozon. But it must be admitted that in Soviet encyclopedic dictionaries he always figured exactly as a researcher who discovered Australia.
However, quite recently, a sensational find was made off the coast of the mainland, after which history textbooks may have to be rewritten. In 2002, near the Australian Fraser Island, shipwreck was discovered, covered with a thick layer of sand. Research has shown that the ship belonged to the Spaniards or the Portuguese, and it arrived on the shores of Australia in about 1570, that is, several decades before the Yanszon!
More recently, another name has been added to the list of pioneers in Australia. Australian journalist Peter Trickett has released his book, in which he claims that in 1522 Australia was discovered by a little-known Portuguese navigator Cristovao Mendonza. Trickett bought authentic maps from the early 16th century from a second-hand bookstore, which contain accurate and detailed depictions of the east coast of Australia, marked in Portuguese. They show the surroundings and coastline in the Botany Bay area in the Tasman Sea. The journalist believes that these maps were compiled after the trip of Cristovao Mendonsa, which he made in 1522!
But despite these discoveries, millions of people still consider James Cook as the discoverer of Australia. In 1768, the British Geographical Society sent an expedition led by Cook to the shores of Tahiti. The researchers were to conduct astronomical observations of Venus and, in addition, were instructed to find Terra australis incognita.
In April 1770, Cook approached the eastern coast of Australia, where he discovered Botanical Bay. The explorer sailed on his ship along the entire east coast, named it New South Wales and declared it the property of the British crown. He soon stumbled upon the Great Barrier Reef, where he crashed. In 1771 he returned to England victorious - Terra australis incognita was finally discovered! But the mythical treasures were never found, and the British Empire decided to make this place a distant overseas prison …
Egyptians in Australia
The new mainland was quickly settled, but in the first decades of the development of the former Terra australis incognita, everyone was not up to its many mysteries. And in Australia there was something to be surprised …
In 1837, the English geographer George Gray explored the western and southern coasts of the mainland. On the banks of the Glenelgu River, he discovered a cave on the walls of which images of human figures were carved. To Gray's complete amazement, these figures were not at all similar to the aborigines - strange clothes, aquiline noses, clear profiles … However, recently versions began to be put forward that these are representatives of some highly developed civilization or aliens - they look very unusual …
But in the 19th century, Gray's find did not make much impression, and it was remembered only in the 20th century. In 1931, the same mysterious rock carvings were found, not at all similar to the usual art of the aborigines. A year later, archaeologists found several deep stone wells near Lake Mackay. Australian aborigines could not build such a structure even in the 20th century, and these wells were clearly of ancient origin.
Each decade brought new mysterious finds. A sensation was the information that a coin found deep in the ground had been lying in the house of one farmer for several years. To the shock of archaeologists, it turned out that the coin was made in Ancient Egypt in the III millennium BC! Later, a pebble was found, absolutely identical to the figures of the Egyptian sacred scarab beetles.
All these findings have allowed the English professor-anthropologist Grafton Eliot Smith to suggest that the Egyptians had visited Australia in time immemorial.
This version was also confirmed by the strange custom of some local tribes - they mummified the dead. More recently, it turned out that eucalyptus oil, made from trees growing only in northeastern Australia, was used to embalm some Egyptian mummies.
All these findings made it possible to find the answer to the riddle that has long been of interest to scientists-Egyptologists. For a long time they were worried about the question - why on the walls of several Egyptian temples people are depicted who are not similar to any of the peoples conquered by the Egyptians. Probably, these are the inhabitants of the mysterious Terra australis incognita, the honor of the discovery of which can now be given to the ancient Egyptians … However, as we have already said above, supporters of the theory of paleocontacts believe that both Australian rock paintings and ancient Egyptian drawings depict some unknown gods from other planets …
Interesting Facts
In 1642, the governor of the East Indies, Van Diemen, equipped an expedition to search for unexplored lands in the western part of the Pacific Ocean … The Dutch navigator Abel Tasman led the expedition. After three months, the exhausted people reached an unknown land, which Tasman named after his patron the land of Van Diemen. Later it turned out that this is a large island, which now bears the name of its discoverer - Tasmania. Interestingly, during that voyage, Tasman could have discovered Australia, but bypassed it.
The most pressing issue for navigators of the past has always been the issue of food. During a long voyage under the hot sun, almost all food was spoiled, and people were forced to eat only breadcrumbs and corned beef for many months. From monotonous and inadequate food, sailors fell ill with scurvy and other diseases, and died in dozens. James Cook was the pioneer in expedition equipment. He was the first to come up with the idea of sailing dried fruits and vegetables, and thanks to his diet, Cook's team never got scurvy, traveling for years …
Another notable figure in the development of Australia is the Englishman Charles Sturt. In 1827, he arrived on the mainland with a group of convicts. But at the same time, he dreamed of discovery and adventure. Several years later he embarked on an expedition inland. It was he who discovered the Darling River, which he named after the governor of the colony. Probably, the governor liked this one so much that he granted Blurr 2000 hectares of land near modern Canberra. Inspired by Sturt, he continued his exploration and discovered a desert named after him, the Stoned Desert of Sturt.
N. Trubinovskaya