The island of Tasmania, an Australian state, is located 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of

the eastern portion of the continent, being separated from it by the Bass Strait. Tasmania
has a population of 456,652 (census 2001) and an area of 68,332 square kilometers (26,383
square miles).
The capital and largest city is Hobart, and other major population centres include
Launceston, Devonport and Burnie.
It is believed that the island was joined to the mainland until the end of the most recent Ice
Age approximately 10,000 years ago. The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European
was in 1642 by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who named the island Van Diemens Land.
Captain James Cook also sighted the island in 1777. A British settlement was established at
Hobart Cove in 1803, and shortly afterwards a harsh penal colony was established at Port
Arthur, Tasmania.
Tasmania once possessed an indigenous population, the Tasmanian Aborigines, and
evidence indicates their presence in the territory, later to become an island, at least 35,000
years ago. At the time of British settlement the indigenous population has been estimated at
5000, but through persecution and disease the population was eliminated (some mixed-
blood descendants still survive). The impact of introduced diseases, prior to the first
European estimates of the size Tasmania's population, means that the original indigenous
population could have been noticeably larger than 5000. The last full-blooded Tasmanian
Aborigine was Truganini who died in 1872.
Tasmania's main industries are mining, including copper, zinc, tin and iron, agriculture,
forestry, and tourism. There has been a significant decline in manufacturing in recent years,
leading to a substantial drain of the island's young adult population to mainland Australia,
especially to major urban centers such as Melbourne and Sydney.
Tasmania's relatively low population density and temperate, maritime climate means that it is
rich in unspoilt, ecologically valuable regions. Proposals for local economic development
have therefore been faced with strong requirements for environmental sensitivity, or outright
opposition. In particular proposals for hydroelectric power generation proved controversial in
the early 1970s and 1980s. Opposition to the construction of the Lake Pedder Dam led to
the formation of the world's first green party, the United Tasmania Party. In the 1980s the
state was again plunged into often bitter debate over the proposed Franklin River Dam. The
anti-dam sentiment was shared by many Australians outside Tasmania, and proved a factor
in the election of the Hawke Labor government in 1983 which halted construction of the
dam.
Although seldom in the world news, global attention turned to Tasmania on April 29, 1996
when lone gunman Martin Bryant opened fire, killing 35 tourists and residents and injuring
37 others in an incident now known as the Port Arthur Massacre.