Louis Antoine de Bougainville

Who is Louis Antoine de Bougainville?

Louis Antoine de Bougainville was a French military officer, mathematician, and explorer who became one of France's most celebrated circumnavigators. In 1763, following France's defeat in the Seven Years' War, Bougainville proposed and funded at his own expense a colonial expedition to resettle Acadian refugees who had been expelled from Canada by the British. Sailing in 1764, he established Port Louis on East Falkland in April of that year, the first permanent settlement in the islands' history, naming the harbour after King Louis XV. He formally took possession of the archipelago for France, calling the group the Iles Malouines after the sailors of Saint-Malo who had long fished the surrounding waters, the root of the later Spanish name Islas Malvinas. Spain's assertion of a prior claim under existing treaties led the French crown to order Bougainville to hand the settlement over to Spain in 1767. Bougainville went on to lead France's first circumnavigation of the globe from 1766 to 1769 and later served as a naval officer during the American Revolutionary War, publishing his celebrated voyage narrative in 1771.

Sources: Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Wikipedia · Port Louis, Falkland Islands, Wikipedia · Louis Antoine de Bougainville, A Voyage Round the World (English translation, 1772)