1696, Willem de Vlamingh explored the southwest coast. In 1699, Dampier was sent to find the east coast of Australia. He sailed along the west coast, went north to Timor, followed the north coast of New Guinea to the Bismarck Archipelago and abandoned his search because his ship had become rotten. Until Captain Cook the east coast was completely unknown and New Zealand had only been seen once. Pacific Islands See also: History of the Pacific Islands 1521: by Ferdinand Magellan, two atolls 1521: Thieves' Islands (Mariana Islands) also by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan, from Spain. 1525: Caroline Islands by Diogo da Rocha and Gomes de Sequeira, from the Portuguese East Indies (Moluccas). 1526: Islands of the Painted People (Marshall Islands) by Alonso de Salazar of the Loaísa expedition 1543: Bonin Islands by Bernardo de la Torre from Mexico 1568: Solomon Islands, the Ellice Islands (Tuvalu) and Wake Island by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira from South America 1574: Juan Fernández Islands by Juan Fernández. 1595: Marquesas Islands and the Santa Cruz Islands by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira from South America 1606: Tuamotu Archipelago, Butaritari and Makin (Gilbert Islands), the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós from South America 1616: Friendly Islands (Niua Islands of Tonga) and the Bismarck Archipelago by Willem Schouten from Cape Horn. 1642: Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), New Zealand, the southern Friendly Islands (Tonga), and the Cannibal Isles (Fiji) by Abel Tasman 1722: Easter Island and the Navigator Islands (Samoa) by Jacob Roggeveen from Cape Horn 1741: Aleutian Islands by Vitus Bering and Alexei Chirikov from Russia 1765: Tokelau and Nikunau by John Byron 1767: Tahiti by Samuel Wallis 1774: New Caledonia and Norfolk Island by James Cook 1777: Christmas Island (now Kiribati) by James Cook 1778: Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) by James Cook 1788: Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati) by Thomas Gilbert and John Marshall. 1791: Chatham Islands by William R. Broughton Mythical lands Europeans had long believed in a Strait of Anian somewhere near Bering Strait. A large and distorted Hokkaido was called 'Ezo', 'Jesso' and many other spellings. One of the Kuril Islands named "Companies Landt" by Vries grew into a large mass attached to North America. Joao-da-Gama-Land was thought to be east of Japan. There was an overgrown Puget Sound called "Grande Mer de l'Ouest" possibly connected to Hudson Bay. In the far south was a Terra Australis. The map published