They were first sighted on 12 February 1619 by the Garcia de Nodal expedition, and named after the cosmographer of the expedition, Diego Ramírez de Arellano.
Gabriel de Luetz was accompanied by a vast suite of scientists, Jean de Monluc, philosopher Guillaume Postel, botanist Pierre Belon, naturalist Pierre Gilles d'Albi, the future cosmographer André Thévet, traveler Nicolas de Nicolay who would publish their findings upon their return to France and contribute greatly to the development of early science in France.
Java Minor was identified as an island (the present Island of Java) by the Franco-Portuguese navigator and cosmographer Jean Alfonse in his work of 1544, La Cosmographie but Java Major according to him was part of the continent of Terra Australis, which extended as far as the Antarctic Pole and the Strait of Magellan.
The river was recorded by the 2nd century AD cosmographer Ptolemy of Alexandria (d. c 168) as Δηουανα Devona, meaning 'goddess', an indication the river was once a sacred one.