Discovery by Tasman.

The first European who made the existence of New Zealand known to the civilized world, and who gave it the name it bears, was Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who visited it in 1642. Claims to earlier discovery by other European explorers have been raised, but they are unsupported by any sufficient evidence. Tasman did not land on any part of the Islands, in consequence of having had a boat's crew cut off by the Natives in the bay now known as Massacre Bay, but contented himself by sailing along the western coast of the North Island, and quitted its shores without taking possession of the country in the name of the Government he served.