GOOGLE CELEBRATES JEANNE BARET’S 280TH BIRTHDAY
Jeanne Baret is recognized as the first woman to have ever completed a voyage of circumnavigation of the globe. She was a member of Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s colonial expedition on the ships La Boudeuse and Étoile in 1766–1769 having joined the expedition disguised as a man, calling herself Jean Baret.
Date of Birth: 27 July 1740, France
Died: 5 August 1807 @Saint Aulaye, Saint – Aulaye – Puymangou, France
French National
‘Yesterday I checked on board the Étoile a rather peculiar event. For some time, a rumour had been circulating on the two ships that Mr de Commerçon’s [sic] servant, named Baré, was a woman. His structure, his caution in never changing his clothes or carrying out any natural function in the presence of anyone, the sound of his voice, his beardless chin, and several other indications had given rise to this suspicion and reinforced it’
(De Bougainville’s Journal, 28–29 May 1768).
According to some historians, we have Baret alone to thank for one of their most famous discoveries: bougainvillea, a plant prized for its vibrant flowers that now blooms in warm climates around the globe. Suffering from incapacitating leg ulcers in Rio de Janeiro in 1767, Commerson is unlikely to have traipsed through the Brazilian countryside collecting the specimen he ultimately named for the expedition’s commander. Instead, his right-hand “man” might have gathered the seeds that introduced bougainvillea to Europe and germinated a worldwide vogue. In her 2010 book “The Discovery of Jeanne Baret,” British historian Glynis Ridley further posits that Baret’s knowledge of herbal remedies attracted her to the bright blossoms, since colorful leaves and flowers were considered therapeutic at the time.
~Jennie Cohen ~
