Born November 11, 1729,
Paris, France
Died August 31, 1811,
Paris. France
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, a French naval officer, led an expedition around the world in the late 1760s. It was the first time that a French ship had circumnavigated the globe, and on the voyage was also the first woman ever to sail around the world. Bougainville sighted many Pacific islands and, with the aid of new instruments, was able to pinpoint their locations for the first time. He carried out a secret assignment to obtain spice-plant seedlings for the French, who wanted to break the Dutch monopoly in the spice trade. Bougainvillea, a genus of shrubs, vines, and small trees, was named after him.
When the French and Indian War ended in 1763, France had lost all of its possessions in North America and India to the British. As a result, the French turned to other parts of the world to start a new empire. A nobleman and military officer, Bougainville had served in the war in North America as secretary to General Montcalm, the French commander in chief. A loyal officer of the king of France, Bougainville offered to lead an expedition to establish a new French colony.
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