Tasmania is an island state located to the south of mainland Australia. In 1642, a Dutch explorer named Abel Tasman was the first European to sight Tasmania. He initially named the island Van Diemen's Land after his employer, but parliament changed the name to Tasmania in 1856. The French were the next Europeans to visit Tasmania, in 1772, followed by the English one year later. Being an island, it was considered an ideal location for penal settlements, and convicts who reoffended on the Australian mainland were shipped there. Its isolation has also helped preserve its rich colonial heritage, and ensure that most of the state's wilderness areas have remained relatively unspoiled.