Portuguese - First Europeans To Find Australia ?

Were Portuguese Explorers the First Europeans To Find Australia?


The Dieppe maps are a series of world maps and atlases produced in Dieppe, France, in the 1540s, 1550s, and 1560s.

"The maps, with their fancy compass roses and detailed illustrations, were intended to be pieces of art, rather than navigational aids, but their information had to come from somewhere. The names and script on the charts are written out in a mix of French and Portuguese, giving rise to the theory, which was popularized in Kenneth McIntyre's 1977 book, The Secret Discovery of Australia, that the mapmakers of Dieppe were getting their view of the world, at least in part, from Portuguese expeditions. In particular, one of the maps that came out of Dieppe, (and is survived by a faithful recreation) depicts the east coast of the fabled Java la Grande with place names almost exclusively in Portuguese. Given the vagaries of the Dieppe map sources, this has led to the theory that it was the Portuguese who were the first Europeans to spy the Australian coast."

"With Spain and Portugal vying for control of the world's oceans and territories being discovered, both kingdoms kept maps and charts locked up. Many Portuguese maps were lost for posterity when the repository, the Casa da India, in Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755."


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_maps https://www.google.com/.../were-portuguese-explorers-the... https://www.reuters.com/.../us-australia-map... https://www.google.com/.../world/2007/mar/22/uk.australia