Hubert Sagnières
Daring French Explorations
Trailblazing adventures around the world : 1714-1854
FOREWORD
Edward Duyker
Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities
Sixteen French explorers embark readers on their voyages around the world, to witness the trials and tribulations encountered as they charted new routes to remote territories.
Set sail to Tahiti with Louis-Antoine de Bougainville or to Antarctica with Jules Dumont d’Urville.
Learn about Russian domination of Alaska in the eighteenth century, or how the Dutch traded Manhattan to the British for the precious nutmeg plantations on a tiny Indonesian island.
Celebrate the first circumnavigation by a woman in the early nineteenth century and observe life as a Westerner in China in 1820.
Le Gentil
de La Barbinais
1714-1718
The first-ever Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe.
Louis-Antoine
de Bougainville
1766-1769
En route to discover Tahiti, unaware of the woman in their midst.
Pierre Marie François
de Pagès
1767-1771
A romantic traveler struck by the wonder of it all.
Jean-François
de Galaup de Lapérouse
1785-1788
The tragic adventure of France’s greatest explorer under sail.
Étienne
Marchand
1790-1792
The fur trader who mapped America.
Camille
de Roquefeuil
1816-1819
From the Chilean coastline to Alaska,
the peregrinations of a Bordeaux-born explorer.
Louis Claude
de Saulces de Freycinet
1817-1820
Through the eyes of Rose de Freycinet, one of the first women to travel around the world.
Louis-Isidore
Duperrey
1822-1825
Leader of one of France’s greatest scientific expeditions in the age of sail.
Hyacinthe
de Bougainville
1824-1826
An unusual foray into diplomacy, China and Cochinchina.
Auguste Bernard
Duhaut-Cilly
1826-1829
A French navy officer takes the kingdom of Hawai by storm
Cyrille Pierre
Théodore Laplace
1830-1832
On a mission to save the honor of France in the Pacific.
Auguste Nicolas
Vaillant
1836-1837
Sailing to the rescue of French whalers under attack from pirates.
Abel Aubert
du Petit-Thouars
1836-1839
An ardent defender of French interests in Oceania.
Cyrille Pierre
Théodore Laplace
1837-1840
A return to the Pacific Ocean for the sake of espionage.
Jules Sébastien César
Dumont d’Urville
1837-1840
The discovery of the Antarctica but there’s a high price to pay.
Gaston
de Roquemaurel
1850-1854
The forgotten, final voyage of the Age of Sail
The explorers
In 400 pages beautifully illustrated with some 300 documents―including previously unpublished or rare texts, maps, and illustrations from centuries-old sketchbooks― readers discover these intrepid travelers and their extraordinary scientific, military, or commercial voyages, which have significantly marked the history of world exploration and contributed to our modern understanding of geography, cartography, climate change, and global cultures.
Unfiltered extracts from travel journals, original works by each explorer, and previously unpublished personal correspondence plunge readers into the heart of their adventures. These rare first-person historical accounts provide enlightening insight into their thoughts, concerns, and contemporary attitudes―touching on themes such as colonization, religion, trade, and geopolitics―with relevance that strikes the chords of modern-day issues.