Wessel Islands

Wessel Islands
The islands can be found in the top left
Waters	Arafura lake
Geographical location	11 ° 30 ′  S , 136 ° 25 ′  E Coordinates: 11 ° 30 ′  S , 136 ° 25 ′  E

The Wessel Islands (Engl. Wessel Islands ) are an archipelago in Australia . They belong to the state of the Northern Territory and extend in a chain northeast from Arnhem Land into the sea. Marchinbar Island is the largest island in the group; other islands are Elcho Island , Rimbija Island (the furthest in the ocean of the islands), Guluwuru Island , Raragala Island , Stevens Island , Burgunngura Island , Djeergaree Island , Yargara Island , Drysdale Island , Jirrgari Iceland , Graham Island , Alger Island , Abbott Island and Howard Island .

Bumaga Island and Warnawi Island are counted among the Wessel Islands as well as the Cunningham Islands .

Discovery of the Wessel Islands

A more than 600 year old coin from Kilwa in Africa , which was found on the Wessel Islands, suggests that Portuguese seafarers reached the Australian coast as early as the beginning of the 16th century. The Portuguese had captured Kilwa in 1505. In 1515 they landed for the first time on the opposite Timor .

The Wessel Islands were officially discovered by Pieter Piertszoon (also: Pierterszoon or Pietersen) and named after the ship "Wessel". In 1636, the governor-general of Batavia Antonio van Diemen sent an expedition northwards that consisted of the two ships Klein Amsterdam and the Wessel. The commander was Gerrit Thomas Pool , who was killed on April 28, 1636 during the expedition to New Guinea . Piertszoon continued the expedition until it returned to Batavia. On the trip he discovered the Cobourg Peninsula , Melville Island and the entrance to the Dundas Strait (separating Bathurst Island and Melville Island from the mainland).

Web links

• National Library of Australia
• NEW DISNEW DISCOVERIES ON THE NORTH-COAST OF AUSTRALIA BY THE SHIPS KLEIN-AMSTERDAM AND WESEL, COMMANDED BY (GERRIT THOMASZOON POOL AND) PIETER PIETERSZOON.
• Earthwatch: Islands of Australia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Guardian: It could change everything ': coin found off northern Australia may be from pre-1400 Africa , May 11, 2019 , accessed May 15, 2019.