There is the Old Zealand? And where is it?

The American state of New Mexico is named after Mexico. As well as New York takes it from the English city of York, in honor of the duchy. And New Zealand? Where does it get its name?

The answer is easy: from Zealand, the westernmost province of the Netherlands, which is also made up of islands and its name in Dutch means "land of the sea." To call it so were the Dutch

cartographers Hendrik Brouwer and Joan Blaeu, after in 1642 New Zealand was discovered by Abel Tasman. the association with Zealand to the two scholars was spontaneous, because both territories were formed by islands, hence the name Nieuw Zeeland.

Following the delivery of Tasman (hence be named Tasmania), New Zealand remained a long unexplored, until, around 1770, the British Empire manifested commercial and economic interest in the Pacific region and in 1768 Captain James Cook, on behalf of the Royal Society, he left for Tahiti.

Cook left Plymouth in late August with an expedition that had a scientific interest, to observe the transit of Venus across the sun. Docked in New Zealand in October 1769 and during that trip and two others later he established its borders, discovering the strait that bears his name.