Baré Jeanne (w3439)
Cristoforo Dall'Acqua — http://www.tahiti-infos.com/Jeanne-Baret-un-garcon-fut-la-1re-vahine-popa-a-a-Tahiti_a143451.html, Domaine public (https://commons.wikimedia.org)

Baré Jeanne (w3439)

  • Description: Jeanne Baré (also spelled Baret or Barret) was a self-taught botanist known as an "herb woman" for her knowledge of medicinal plants. In the early 1760s she became housekeeper and assistant to the naturalist Philibert Commerson. In 1766, when Commerson was invited to join Louis-Antoine de Bougainville's round-the-world scientific expedition aboard the storeship Étoile, Baré disguised herself as a man - calling herself "Jean" - to board the vessel as Commerson's valet, since French naval regulations at the time penalised men who brought women aboard. During the voyage she contributed significantly to botanical research, helping to amass the largest individual natural history collection of the time, including the plant later named bougainvillea after the expedition's commander. Her identity as a woman was revealed during the voyage, reportedly in Tahiti in 1768. She and Commerson disembarked in Mauritius, where she remained after his death in 1773, running a tavern. In 1774 she married French soldier Jean Dubernat and returned with him to France around 1775, thus completing her circumnavigation. In 1785 the French Ministry of Marine awarded her a pension of 200 livres a year, describing her in the official document as an "extraordinary woman." In 2012 a species of vine, Solanum baretiae, was named in her honour. She died on 5 August 1807 in Saint-Aulaye, Dordogne, aged 67. Guinness World Records certifies her as the first woman to circumnavigate the globe
  • Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: Jean Baré
  • Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: France, Francia
  • Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: 1740-1807
  • Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Various, Diversi, Différents
  • Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
  • Internet: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Barret
  • Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q437168
  • Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Ridley, Glynis. The Discovery of Jeanne Baret. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010.

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