Oct 27, 2021
A Dutch East India Company cartographer conferred the name Nieuw Zeeland (or Nova Zeelandia in Latin) after the Dutch place that already had this name - specifically, Zeeland in the south-west of the Netherlands. Forts in modern-day Taiwan and Guyana were also called Zeelandia by early Dutch explorers. When James Cook arrived in 1769, Nieuw Zeeland was anglicised to New Zealand, as can be seen in his famous 1770 map. Cook renamed Te Moana-o-Raukawa as Cook Strait, and imposed dozens more English place names.
‘Putting Aotearoa on the map: New Zealand has changed its name before, why not again?’, RNZ
