Who was Bougainville?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
October 10, 2003
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
November 5, 1766, Louis Antoine de Bougainville sailed from Nantes aboard the frigate Boudeuse. The French government commissioned Bougainville expedition leader; the objective, circumnavigate the world. His storeship, the Etoile, was still refitting when the Boudeuse left France.
The two ships were to meet in the Iles Malouines (Falklands). Should they miss each other, the second rendezvous was Rio de Janeiro. On November 17, the Boudeuse encountered a heavy storm and two of her masts were broken. The Boudeuse made for Brest for repairs.
After repairs, Bougainville made for the Iles Malouines. He was in charge of turning the islands over to the Spanish. He conducted his country's business and waited for the Etoile. When it did not arrive at the islands, the Boudeuse set sail for Rio.
The officers of the Etoile decided not to attempt the first rendezvous, but headed for Rio arriving several days before Bougainville. Aboard the Etoile was the expedition's botanist, Philibert Commerson. While awaiting the Boudeuse, Commerson explored the area around Rio and discovered a vividly colorful vine.
The expedition explored the Pacific and returned to France in March 1769. Commerson suggested to Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu that the vine he found in Brazil be named for the expedition leader. Jussieu published the name, Latinized to Buginvillaea, in his Genera Plantarum in 1789. (The original spelling was restored later.) Bougainville died at age 81 in 1811.
In addition to the vine, straits, bays, a reef, and a mountain were named for him. He was a mathematician and wrote a treatise on integral calculus, a soldier who defended Quebec in the Seven Years War, an explorer, captain of the Guerrier which fought English ships during the American Revolution, a vice-admiral, a field marshall, secretary to King Louis XV, and, escaping beheading during the French Revolution, a count and senator to Napoleon.
Bougainville led a remarkable life, but he should not have. His mother died when he was five; he was raised by a harshly strict aunt. He was expected to follow his father's profession and become a public official. But he had adventure in his soul; he gave up the security of an assured profession and gained a 'remembrance' in every garden that grows a Bougainvillea. (Compiled from: "Louis Antoine de Bougainville", J.J. O'Conner and E.F. Robertson, University of St. Andrews, 2000; "Louis Antoine de Bougainville" Wikipedia; "A short biography of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville", John Robson, 2002.)
To learn more about Bougainville, I highly recommend the biography written by John Robson. To view this biography, click on the link:
http://pages.quicksilver.net.nz/jcr/~boug2.html
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
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