Why Australia was called Australia?

Australia is one of the five continents inour planet. The existence of the fifth continent in the south of the Earth went to legends in ancient times in the Roman Empire. People who were sure that this continent exists, even gave him the name, not having time to discover new lands. The first name of Australia was Terra Australis Incognita. In Latin it means: Unknown (or Mysterious) Southern Earth. Nevertheless, Willem Janszon first discovered it in the 17th century. But the name she still wore New Holland.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries, the active search for the MysteriousThe South was occupied by the British. Several travelers, namely Matthew Flinders and James Cook several times swam the ocean in the southern part of the Earth and still managed to find these lands. They contributed to the fact that our maps now contain the fifth continent - Australia. But why Australia was called Australia?

The first to go around the ship was the whole continent of MatthewFlinders. According to him, he could not get used to the idea that this continent is called the Unknown (or Mysterious) Southern Earth (Terra Australis). And then he offered his name, which we use to this day - Australia. And to scientists and geographers this variant seemed the most successful and convenient for pronunciation. In 1824, the British government legitimately approved the name of the mainland.