Van Diemen's Land is the original name for
Tasmania, the island state of
Australia. It was named in honor of Anthonio van Diemen, Governor General of India for the
Dutch East India Company, who sent
Abel Tasman out on his voyage of discovery. It was changed in
1856 to honour Tasman, the first European to discover the island, and possibly also to remove the association with the severe
penal colony that the original name evoked.