where did kangaroo island get its name from
Kangaroo Island On 23 March 1802, British explorer Matthew Flinders, commanding HMS Investigator, named the land "Kanguroo (sic) Island",[5] due to the endemic subspecies of the western grey kangaroo, Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus,[6] after landing near Kangaroo Head on the north coast of the Dudley Peninsula. He was closely followed by the French explorer Commander Nicolas Baudin, who was the first European to circumnavigate the Island and who mapped much of the island (which is why so many areas have French names).[citation needed]