Editing Terra Australis (section)

====17th century====
[[Luís Vaz de Torres]], a [[Spanish people|Spanish]] navigator who commanded the ''San Pedro y San Pablo'', the ''San Pedrico'' and the tender or yacht, ''Los Tres Reyes Magos'' during the 1605–1606 expedition led by [[Pedro Fernandes de Queiros]] in quest of the Southern Continent, proved the existence of a passage south of New Guinea, now known as [[Torres Strait]]. Commenting on this in 1622, the Dutch cartographer and publisher of Queiros' eighth memorial, [[Hessel Gerritsz]], noted on his ''Map of the Pacific Ocean:'' "Those who sailed with the yacht of Pedro Fernando de Quiros in the neighbourhood of New Guinea to 10 degrees westward through many islands and shoals and over {{convert|23|and|24|fathom|m|disp=sqbr}} for as many as 40 days, estimated that Nova Guinea does not extend beyond 10 degrees to the south; if this be so, then the land from 9 to 14 degrees would be a separate land".<ref>Hessel Gerritsz (c. 1581–1632), ''Map of the Pacific Ocean,'' 1622, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, département des Cartes et Plans, SH, Arch. 30</ref>

[[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]], another Portuguese navigator sailing for the Spanish Crown, saw a large island south of New Guinea in 1606, which he named La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/spanish-quest-terra-australis |title=The Spanish quest for Terra Australis |date=13 November 2015 | publisher=State Library of New South Wales |access-date=2018-05-13}}</ref> He represented this to the King of [[Spain]] as the Terra Australis incognita. In his 10th Memorial (1610), Queirós said: "New Guinea is the top end of the Austral Land of which I treat [discuss], and that people, and customs, with all the rest referred to, resemble them".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2014/D23411/a6314001.pdf| title = Translation by Dolores Turró of Memorial No. 10}}</ref>

Dutch father and son Isaac and [[Jacob Le Maire]] established the Australische Compagnie (Australian Company) in 1615 to trade with ''Terra Australis'', which they called "Australia".<ref>''Spieghel der Australische Navigatie;'' cited by A. Lodewyckx, "The Name of Australia: Its Origin and Early Use", ''The Victorian Historical Magazine,'' Vol.&nbsp;XIII, No.&nbsp;3, June 1929, pp.&nbsp;100–191.</ref>

The [[Dutch expedition to Valdivia]] of 1643 intended to round Cape Horn sailing through Le Maire Strait but strong winds made it instead drift south and east.<ref name=Arana280>{{Cite book|title=Historia general de Chile|last=Barros Arana|first=Diego|publisher=Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes|location=Alicante|chapter-url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/historia-general-de-chile-tomo-cuarto--0/html/ff2f1efc-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_67.html|edition=Digital edition based on the second edition of 2000|volume=Tomo cuarto|language=es|chapter=Capítulo XI|author-link=Diego Barros Arana|page=280}}</ref> The small fleet led by [[Hendrik Brouwer]] managed to enter the Pacific ocean sailing south of the island disproving earlier beliefs that it was part of ''Terra Australis''.<ref name=Arana280/><ref>{{cite book |last=Lane |first=Kris E. |title=Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500–1750 |url={{GBurl|id=bRgFqADzOLkC}} |year=1998 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk, N.Y. |isbn=0-7656-0256-3|page=88}}</ref><ref name=Kock>{{cite web|first=Robbert|last=Kock|url=http://www.colonialvoyage.com/dutchchile.html|title=Dutch in Chile|publisher=Colonial Voyage.com|access-date=23 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229232448/http://www.colonialvoyage.com/dutch-chile/|archive-date=29 February 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The cartographic depictions of the southern continent in the 16th and early 17th centuries, as might be expected for a concept based on such abundant conjecture and minimal data, varied wildly from map to map; in general, the continent shrank as potential locations were reinterpreted.  At its largest, the continent included [[Tierra del Fuego]], separated from South America by a small strait; [[New Guinea]]; and what would come to be called [[Australia]].  In Ortelius's atlas ''Theatrum Orbis Terrarum'', published in 1570, ''Terra Australis'' extends north of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Pacific Ocean.

As long as it appeared on maps at all, the continent minimally included the unexplored lands around the [[South Pole]], but generally much larger than the real [[Antarctica]], spreading far north&nbsp;– especially in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. [[New Zealand]], first seen by the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] explorer [[Abel Tasman]] in 1642, was regarded by some as a part of the continent.

A map with a ''Terra Australis'' stretching from New Guinea to the South Pole and beyond was included in the 1676 application by [[Vittorio Riccio]], an Italian missionary in [[Manila]], to be appointed [[Apostolic Prefecture|Prefect Apostolic]] of ''Terra Australis'' in order to initiate missionary activity there.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/83697 |title=Terra Australis, Quinta Pars Orbis, 1676 (Map) |date= |website=Living Histories |publisher=University of Newcastle Australia|access-date=25 Dec 2023}}</ref> His appointment was approved in 1681 but he died in 1685.