European discovery

European discovery Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Tonga
leo_walsh05:01 UTC21 Jan 2009	Apparently today is the day that Abel Tasman discovered Tonga in 1643. Tongatapu he named Amsterdam, and Ha'apai he called Rotterdam.
hardnosethehighway06:02 UTC21 Jan 2009	Well that's one bullet the Tongans dodged-look at how badly the Dutch buggered the Indos-Hollanders were the worst Euro-colonisers ever.	1
leo_walsh04:47 UTC22 Jan 2009	yup	2
mandja23:27 UTC22 Jan 2009	Gee, I think there are many who would dispute that the Dutch were the worst. The Belgians in the Congo Portuguese/Spaniards in Sth America Poms in India French in Algeria Mongols in Asia generally	3
leo_walsh01:34 UTC25 Jan 2009	Just had a thought. I've been to the Captain Cook landing site and he landed in, is it 1777?, but I can't remember a monument to Abel Tasman.	4