Frederick de Houtman was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed along the coastal regions of western Australia on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern celestial hemisphere and contributed to the creation of 12 new southern constellations.

In 1619, De Houtman sailed in the Dutch East India Company's ship, the Maeght van Dordrecht, along with Jacob Dedel in the Amsterdam. They sighted the Australian coast near present-day Perth, which they called Dedelsland. After sailing northwards along the coast he encountered and only narrowly avoided a group of shoals, subsequently called the Houtman Abrolhos.

De Houtman then made landfall in the region known as Eendrachtsland, which the explorer Dirk Hartog had encountered earlier. In his journal, De Houtman identified these coasts as Locach, mentioned by Marco Polo to have been a country far south of China and indicated as such on maps by cartographers Plancius and Linschoten.... More • http://en.wikipedia. ... de_Houtman View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Explorers • Sailors • Astronomy • Australia • Dutch East India Company • East Indies • Enlightenment • Governors • Indonesia • Netherlands • 17th Century • People