Are you a student interested in the history and the facts surrounding Australia? If so, you are in the right place. The original people of Australia are called the Aborigines. They are the first people to settle and live in Australia before other people came to join. The Aborigines arrived around 50,000 years ago from their ancestral land Africa.
The first Europeans to arrive in Australia was the Portuguese people. Followed by the Dutch and then the British. Although the Portuguese sailors and traders were among the first people to reach Australia it is the British who actually landed on the shores of Australia and later put Australia under the British colonization. The rest (Portuguese, Indonesians) either saw it from a distance or passed and had no interest to step on the land.
The Idea of Claudius Ptolemy
The story of discovering Australia by Europeans started in Greece. The astronomer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy believed that the earth was flat and had to be balanced in order not to topple over. This was around 150 A.D.
At around this period people understood that the world was round. Is was the scholar Ptolemy who theorised that the earth had to balance by having land in the north and land in the south. This meant that there had to be land in the south to balance the earth. This way they thought, the earth could balance without toppling over.
This is the theory that inspired European travelers and explorers to go south. From this time henceforth many sailors and explorers left Europe to sail south to look for this mass of land that lay in the south. What they didn’t know is that before the others had arrived in Australia and occupied it. These were known as the Australian Aboriginals.
Aboriginals — the First People in Australia
The Aboriginals are known to be the first people to land and live in Australia. They are the first people who settled there and made this place their home. The history of Australia shows that the aborigines arrived at around 50,000 years ago but no clear records show how they made it there before any other human beings. Scholars claim that their ancestors were from Africa.
These people have the oldest traditions in the world because they were hunters and gatherers and did not involve themselves in farming or building houses. The name aborigine was given to them by Europeans. They are now referred to as the Aboriginals of Australia.
First Australian university
Modern Australia is a land of academic opportunities. There are many universities and learning institutions in Australia that attracts many students from all over the world. After the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), Australia follows as the third country to have the most international students in the world.
In number, there are more than 48 Universities in Australia. The first Australian university is the ancient university called Sydney, which was begun in the year 1851. This is the first university in Australia.
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Indonesian discoverers
The Indonesians were the first Asians who discovered Australia. They were followed by Portuguese. The first Indonesians that came to Australia thought that it was just another island. They did not know that this was a huge continent. They were earlier traders from Indonesia and India and China. No proper documents are available to explain the details.
Modern Australia
Modern Australia is a multicultural society. it has many great modern cities like Melbourne and Sydney which are world-famous for their beauty and historical heritage. It was colonized by the British as early as 1788. Most of the ruling traditions are borrowed from the British system of government. Australia is the most urbanized country than any other country in the world. It has one of the best universities in the world and a population of about 24.5 million people.
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They had no idea it was Australia they were looking at.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to see Australia. They were sailing to and from Timor and the islands around Indonesia. They may have seen the barren coastline and did not come ashore. They had no idea that what they were seeing was just a part of a great continent.
Dutch — First Europeans to Land on Australia
After the Portuguese came the Dutch. It was the Dutch were the first Europeans to step on the land of Australia.
The Dutch were the first to arrive on the land of Australia. It is recorded that on 26 February 1606 Willem Janszoon arrived on the Gulf of Carpentaria and gave the name “New Zealand.” He had thought that this place was part of New Guinea.
The British — First who Determine that Australia was an Island Continent
The British were the first to realize that this was Australia. The explorer James Cook landed on the east coast and discovered that this was Terra Australis or New Holland. The British later colonized Australia.
Those are some of the Australia facts surrounding Australia. The first people to arrive were the aborigines and then they were followed by the Portuguese traders, who went by, then the Dutch and finally the British who anchored on the shores of Australia and stepped on the land.
Australia is one of the most urbanized places in the world. It has wide spaces, deserts, great beaches and what is known as “the bush” and occasional fire outbreaks that make news on the globe. Its big cities are Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and many others.