WI: Abel Tasman discovers a virgin New Zealand?

When Tasman sailed to New Zealand in OTL, he was given a rather hostile reception by the Maori who killed several of his sailors and sent the explorer packing. Undoubtedly, this did the Maori a lot of good as it averted European interest from their land for quite a while.

But what if Tasman had sailed to a land with no humans, just tall forests, giant birds, and monstrous eagles? I know the VOC was not very interested in creating settler colonies, but would they see potential in settling this completely uncharted territory, or would they just abandon it to keep their focus on Indonesia?
 
Hardly very soon begun colonise New Zealand when it is still quiet far from other colonies but colonisation is later much faster.
 
When Tasman sailed to New Zealand in OTL, he was given a rather hostile reception by the Maori who killed several of his sailors and sent the explorer packing. Undoubtedly, this did the Maori a lot of good as it averted European interest from their land for quite a while.

But what if Tasman had sailed to a land with no humans, just tall forests, giant birds, and monstrous eagles? I know the VOC was not very interested in creating settler colonies, but would they see potential in settling this completely uncharted territory, or would they just abandon it to keep their focus on Indonesia?

Unless there's money to be made, you're not going to see a settler colony. There are more accessible places- the Cape Colony was only maintained because it helped control the route around the Cape and the Company really didn't like the settlers very much. You're not going to see them fund a settlement of something that far off.
 
NZ's OTL colonisation by first the Maori, then the British, did take some time to settle in. No one is quite sure how long it took for the Polynesian explorers and migrants to establish a viable colony, but for the British, large scale colonisation did not really take place till the 1840s-50s.

Most of those people ended up in the South Island, which was home to low thousands of Maori, it was in effect, empty land, compared to the North Island, which was heavily populated. In some ways having the Maori present helped colonisation by Britain (helped early migrants), in other ways it did not (North Island Land Wars).
 
Unless there's money to be made, you're not going to see a settler colony. There are more accessible places- the Cape Colony was only maintained because it helped control the route around the Cape and the Company really didn't like the settlers very much. You're not going to see them fund a settlement of something that far off.
Agreed. there is no reason for the VOC to colonise New Zealand. The best case scenario is if another company is created for the specific reason to colonise New Zealand. The question though is, why would they go to New Zealand, if they also have access to the New Netherlands and the Cape colony (or other places like Indonesia), especialy considering that the Netherlands was a pretty good place to live, so there was very little reason for many people to move from the Netherlands to some backwards island on the other side of the world.

Basicly for the Dutch to gain interest in specifically New Zealand, there must be something in New Zealand that makes it worthwhile for the Dutch to go there. Gold in Australia might be a good reason for the Dutch to go there, but can you find something similar in new Zealand that is at the same time accessible with 17th century technology?
 
Agreed. there is no reason for the VOC to colonise New Zealand. The best case scenario is if another company is created for the specific reason to colonise New Zealand. The question though is, why would they go to New Zealand, if they also have access to the New Netherlands and the Cape colony (or other places like Indonesia), especialy considering that the Netherlands was a pretty good place to live, so there was very little reason for many people to move from the Netherlands to some backwards island on the other side of the world.

Basicly for the Dutch to gain interest in specifically New Zealand, there must be something in New Zealand that makes it worthwhile for the Dutch to go there. Gold in Australia might be a good reason for the Dutch to go there, but can you find something similar in new Zealand that is at the same time accessible with 17th century technology?
Basically this. The Dutch were more interested in money than colonies.
 
Basically this. The Dutch were more interested in money than colonies.

In general yes. The Low Countries are and were densely populated, but the total population (due to the size) wasn't that big

If the Netherlands some how has a population surplus or it can't sustain the current population, it would have been more interested in settler colonies.

This would still exclude the Dutch East Indies, Dutch West Indies, west African trading posts and later also Suriname (exchanged for the New Netherlands).

Especially after New Netherlands was exchanged for Suriname, New Zealand and parts of Australia (New Holland) could be an alternative for South Africa, the latter will remain the main focus though.
 
Unless there's money to be made, you're not going to see a settler colony. There are more accessible places- the Cape Colony was only maintained because it helped control the route around the Cape and the Company really didn't like the settlers very much. You're not going to see them fund a settlement of something that far off.

Well, I'd say that settles that. While there is gold and jade in New Zealand, there's no way that Abel or his crew are going to find it, so i guess that region of the South Pacific will stay uninhabited until at least the explorations of the 18th century. I'll head back to the drawing board.
 
In general yes. The Low Countries are and were densely populated, but the total population (due to the size) wasn't that big

If the Netherlands some how has a population surplus or it can't sustain the current population, it would have been more interested in settler colonies.

This would still exclude the Dutch East Indies, Dutch West Indies, west African trading posts and later also Suriname (exchanged for the New Netherlands).

Especially after New Netherlands was exchanged for Suriname, New Zealand and parts of Australia (New Holland) could be an alternative for South Africa, the latter will remain the main focus though.

The "problem" with the Netherlands was that it was too wealthy and too free. There wasn't a good reason to imigrate. You need a bit more oppresive government. Maybe a Willem II lives longer scenario? Even then New Zealand is probably still too far away. The Cape and maybe (West) Australia are better options. Oh and of course Indonesia and other Dutch colonies.
 
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