 They and their descendants were joined by other exiles throughout the 1700s.The first European to discover Ata was Abel Tasman on 19 January 1643.Because of the many tropic birds he saw near the island, he gave it the name of "Pylstaert Eylant" or in modern Dutch "Pijlstaart", meaning "arrowtail", an apt description for, and in that time the name of the tropicbird.