Editing Van Diemen's Land (section)

==Toponym==
The island was named in honour of [[Anthony van Diemen]], [[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies]] who had sent the Dutch explorer [[Abel Tasman]] on his voyage of discovery in the 1640s. In 1642 Tasman became the first known European to land on the shores of Tasmania. After landing at [[Blackman Bay, Tasmania|Blackman Bay]] and later raising the Dutch flag at North Bay, Tasman named the island ''Anthoonij van Diemenslandt'' (Anthony Van Diemen's land) in his patron's honour.

The [[demonym]] for inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land was "Van Diemonian", though contemporaries used the spelling "Vandemonian".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Vandemonian |title=Vandemonian – definition of Vandemonian by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia |publisher=Thefreedictionary.com |access-date=7 February 2013}}</ref> [[Anthony Trollope]] used the latter term; "They are (the Vandemonians) united in their declaration that the cessation of the coming of convicts has been their ruin."<ref>quoted by Patsy Adam Smith p.248 of Smith, Patsy Adam and Woodberry, Joan (1977) ''Historic Tasmania Sketchbook'' Rigby {{ISBN|0-7270-0286-4}}</ref>

In 1856, Van Diemen's Land was renamed ''[[Tasmania]]'', removing the unsavoury link the name Van Diemen's Land had with its penal settlements (and the "[[demon]]" connotation). Tasmania was chosen as it honoured the explorer Abel Tasman, the first European to visit the island. Within 21 years the last penal settlement in Tasmania at [[Port Arthur, Tasmania|Port Arthur]] was permanently closed in 1877.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Australian Government, National Heritage site|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/national/sites/port-arthur.html|title=Port Arthur Historic Site}}</ref>