Louis-Antoine de Bougainville

French explorer

• Born: November 12, 1729
• Birthplace: Paris, France
• Died: August 31, 1811
• Place of death: Paris, France

Bougainville is best known as the leader of the first French expedition to sail around the world. He fought the British during the French and Indian War and later during the American Revolutionary War.

Early Life

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (lwee-ahn-twahn duh bew-gan-veel) was the youngest of four children. His father was a notary in the Paris Courts of Justice. Although his mother died while Louis-Antoine was an infant, he seems to have had a happy childhood.

His biographers have generally been kind to Bougainville. He was short, inclined to be plump or, by some accounts, even fat. His portrait shows him as a splendid French gentleman with a filled-out face, rosy cheeks, and a reddish, somewhat bulbous nose. He is described as tactful, compassionate, and good-humored. He seems to have been an adventurer, a gambler, and somewhat of a ladies’ man. Loyal to his friends, king, and country, he was concerned for the welfare of his companions and those under his command. The translations of his writings indicate that he was a better-than-average journalist.

At his father’s urging, he studied law and mathematics at the University of Paris. In 1755, he published a treatise on integral calculus that brought him academic honors, the most notable being his election to membership in the Royal Society of London. It is not known whether he ever practiced law, but he did have influential friends in law, politics, and government who helped him gain important positions. Bougainville spent several months as secretary to the French ambassador in London, where he enjoyed an active social life, perfected his English, and made the acquaintance of (and often befriended) many prominent Englishmen. He read the accounts of English naval explorers, particularly the account of Admiral George Anson’s voyage around the world.

Life’s Work

Bougainville lived at a trying time for his country. Yet if France had been on the rise, he might not have had his moment in the sun. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War, General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm was appointed military commander of the French forces in what was then France’s colony in North America, a large tract of land consisting of Canada, the Great Lakes region, and the Mississippi basin, including Louisiana. Bougainville was Montcalm’s aide-de-camp and friend from 1756 until the end of 1759, when Montcalm was killed in the Battle of Quebec. As Montcalm’s aide, he learned to deal with the American Indians. He did this so successfully that he was adopted by an Iroquois tribe. He visited most of the French forts of this territory and took part in many of the skirmishes and battles. He was wounded in the Battle of Ticonderoga.

Since he spoke English and had diplomatic experience, he frequently would be sent to negotiate the terms of surrender in these battles. As the years passed, he watched France’s power fade and the friction between the French military and colonial government increase. At this juncture, General Montcalm sent Bougainville to France with two objectives: to defend Montcalm from the accusations of Governor Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil and to encourage the French government to support the war effort in North America or risk losing Canada to the English. He accomplished the former aim but succeeded only in getting lip support for Montcalm. Returning empty-handed to Canada, he took part in the losing defense of Quebec against General James Wolfe. After the death of Montcalm, he rose to second in command of the remaining French forces and eventually played a part in negotiating France’s surrender of Canada to the English, then commanded by Lord Amherst.

The Pacific was the next stage in the European rivalry between France and England. On his return to France, Bougainville convinced King Louis XV that despite France’s defeat in the Seven Years’ War, it still might be possible to block the English from the Pacific. Bougainville was given permission to try but was not given money to establish a French settlement in the Malouine (Falkland) Islands. He raised his own funds and, with a small group of French Canadians, in 1764 landed on and took possession of the Malouine Islands for France. The English, who had claimed but not settled these islands, demanded that France withdraw its colony. The French, thoroughly drained by the Seven Years’ War, were powerless to resist. Instead, they negotiated an agreement with Spain to turn the settlement over to Spain rather than give it to the English. As part of this political maneuvering, Bougainville was given the job of handing over another French colony to another foreign power. In return, he was given two ships and orders to sail around the world—and in the process explore the South Pacific for France. It was this voyage that brought renown to Bougainville as the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe.

Bougainville was not alone in the exploration of the South Pacific. The English in the same year sent an expedition under Samuel Wallis and Phillip Carteret. They became separated during bad weather while passing through the Straits of Magellan and each continued alone, unaware of the other’s progress. Bougainville followed closely behind. Bougainville finally caught up with and passed Carteret off the west coast of Africa, returning to home port first. Several colorful and complimentary accounts, including his own, have been made of Bougainville’s voyage. He unsuccessfully searched for the then legendary southern continent and discovered several new islands and channels. One of the islands today bears his name. He visited Tahiti and his description of it and its people captivated the French imagination. His supply ship carried Jeanne Baret, the first woman to sail around the world. She was apparently the mistress of the expedition’s naturalist, Philibert Commerson, who had successfully disguised her as his valet. She was not discovered until they had reached Tahiti. Bougainville brought a Tahitian back with him to Paris, and the Tahitian became the talk of Paris. Commerson, a botanist, found a brightly flowered vine in Brazil that he named Bougainvillea. While Bougainville’s voyage added little to what was known of the Pacific, it was of importance to the French. It gave them a small victory after a series of dismal failures in the international power struggles of the eighteenth century.

Shortly after Bougainville had completed his account of the journey, he was again pressed into military service for France. In 1778, the French, at the urging of Benjamin Franklin, signed a treaty with the fledgling United States of America to take their part against the English. Bougainville was given the command of a French battleship and again went to war against the British. This French adventure was, on the whole, less than successful. The one success was the naval battle in Chesapeake Bay, which led to the surrender of First Marquess Cornwallis to George Washington in 1781. Thus, the French were instrumental in depriving their enemy of a large colony in North America in revenge for their loss of Canada twenty years earlier.

Bougainville married at the age of fifty and had four sons by this marriage. One of them, Hyacinthe, followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the navy, and making several voyages of exploration, including a trip to Tahiti. Bougainville, a supporter of the royalty during the French Revolution, barely escaped the guillotine. He spent the last eighteen years of his life in good health, honored by Napoleon I and the people of France. He was preceded in death by his second son and by his wife. Bougainville died on August 31, 1811, in his home in Paris.

Significance

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville can be described as a model eighteenth century aristocrat. He was intelligent, well educated, adventurous, socially outgoing, and, in the latter part of his life, financially comfortable. He dedicated most of his life to public service, first as a junior army officer and later as naval commander. In his public life, he was a patriot, loyal to his country, king, and commanding officers, and in return he received their loyalty.

He is most renowned for being the first Frenchman to command a vessel that circumnavigated the globe. This voyage was noteworthy for a reason that was given little or no public acclaim but in retrospect was more important than any real or imagined victory over the English. Bougainville made accurate notations of the longitude of the places he visited. He used a method suggested by Galileo and Jean Cassini’s tables of the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter to determine the time it was in Paris compared to the time it was where they were. Unfortunately, this method of establishing the longitude of a place did not become widely used, partly because of the difficulty of the astronomical observations needed. Once this practice, pioneered by Bougainville, became commonplace, navigators were able to determine their destination accurately, as well as where they were in relation to their destination. Thus, the guesswork was taken out of overseas transportation and trade became more practical.

Bibliography

Allen, Oliver E., et al. The Pacific Navigators. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. The third chapter of this book relates biographical material on Bougainville, centering on his part in the exploration of the South Pacific. Contains his portrait and a map tracing his voyage across the Pacific. Also includes references to the solution to the longitude problem.

Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de. Adventure in the Wilderness: The American Journals of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1756-1760. Edited and translated by Edward P. Hamilton. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964. A very readable translation of Bougainville’s American journal. Also contains a short but valuable introduction that describes Bougainville and sets the historic and geographic stage for his journal. Contains several portraits, two of Bougainville, and several sketch maps, including a very useful place-name map of New France and the British Colonies.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Pacific Journal of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1767-1768. Translated and edited by John Dunmore. London: Hakluyt Society, 2002. An English translation of Bouganville’s journal of his voyage across the Pacific. Dunmore provides introductory material about the ships, participants, and other aspects of the voyage. Illustrations.

Brown, Lloyd A. Map Making: The Art That Became a Science. Boston: Little, Brown, 1960. The chapter “The Science of Longitude” describes the method used by Bougainville to establish the longitudes of the places he visited.

Dunmore, John. French Explorers in the Pacific. Vol. 1, Eighteenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Relates the stories of seven French navigators of the eighteenth century, including a chapter on Bougainville. The majority of the chapter deals with his voyage across the South Pacific.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Monsieur Baret: First Woman Around the World, 1776-1768. Auckland, New Zealand: Heritage Press, 2002. Recounts the story of Jeanne Baret, who disguised herself as a valet and accompanied Bougainville on his voyage around the world.

Hammond, L. Davis, ed. News from New Cythera: A Report of Bougainville’s Voyage. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. This short but valuable book contains a long introduction to the translation of a newsletter written by Bougainville, in which he describes his encounter with the island of Tahiti. In the introduction Hammond cites the historic significance of this voyage and gives a short biography of Bougainville.

Kimbrough, Mary. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, 1729-1811: A Study in French Naval History and Politics. Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 1990. Kimbrough examined research conducted in France since 1964 to prepare this biography focusing on Bougainville’s place in French naval history. Includes chapters on Bougainville’s participation in the Seven Years’ War and his voyage around the world, as well as illustrations.