Carstensz, Jan, was a Dutch navigator who charted part of the northern coast of Australia and named the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1623, officials of the Dutch East India Company instructed him to extend the explorations of Willem Jansz, the first European to sight the continent (see Jansz, Willem ). In the yacht Pera, Carstensz sailed to the southern coast of New Guinea, then turned south to locate the western side of what is now Cape York Peninsula. He was traveling with Willem Joosten van Colster, captain of the Arnhem. They sailed along the coast of the peninsula until Colster took a westerly course to what is now Arnhem Land. Carstensz named the gulf in honor of Pieter de Carpentier, who was at that time governor general of the Dutch East Indies.
