Pierre Poivre

Pierre Poivre (August 23, 1719 - January 6, 1786) was a French horticulturalist born in Lyon; missionary to China and Cochinchina, Intendant of the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/3633634 Pierre Poivre: Eighteenth Century Explorer of Southeast Asia] Lewis A. Maverick The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Jun., 1941), pp. 165-177 ]

In his early 20s he was a missionary in Far Eastern locations such as Cochinchina, Guangzhou and Macau. In 1745 as member of the French East India Company, on a journey to the East Indies he was involved in a naval battle with the British when he was struck by a cannonball on the wrist. This injury required amputation of part of his right arm. Also, Poivre was an uncle to renowned French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814).In the 1760s, Poivre became administrator of Ile de France (Mauritius) and Ile Bourbon (Réunion) in the Indian Ocean. He is famous for the construction of a botanical garden on Mauritius which consisted of trees, shrubs and plants from tropical sites worldwide. He is especially known for introduction of spice plants such as clove and nutmeg to Mauritius and Reunion. During this period of time the Dutch had a virtual monopoly on these spices in the East Indies. In order to obtain these spices, Poivre had to had organize clandestine smuggling forays to obtain plants and seeds from the Indies; the expeditions to obtain the species were conducted in 1769-1770. The Scents of Eden: A Narrative of the Spice Trade Авторы: Charles Corn Издательство: Kodansha America, 1998 ISBN 1568362498, 9781568362496; на стр. 223:

"Provost set out in May 1769 for the Spice Islands.. ..Poivre had been a tireless collector of intelligence on the islands, and his sources informed him of the discovery of a small, uninhabited island northwest of Ternate called Miao, where spices grew in abundance and the Dutch were not especially vigilant as to its security.."

] Poivre also was responsible for introducing these spice plants to the Seychelles.Today on northern Mauritius, the Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses that Poivre created still flourishes, it is now a 25-hectare garden containing tropical plants and trees from Africa, Asia, the Americas as well as islands of the Indian Ocean. Also, Poivre Atoll in the Amirantes Island Group is named after him.

Poivre's book, "The Voyages of a Philosopher", was read with interest by Thomas Jefferson; his description of mountain rice cultivated in Vietnam caught Jefferson's attention. [http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Rice Rice] - Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia. A quote:

Jefferson now turned his attention from the commercial success of his southern countrymen to their health. In the summer of 1787 he began to wonder whether the culture of dry rice might "enable us to get rid of those ponds of stagnant water so fatal to human health and life." He had been reading the Voyages d'un Philosophe by Pierre Poivre, a man who had traveled the Far East as a missionary - first for the Catholic faith and then for French colonial agriculture. During an adventurous life, in which he was captured three times by the British, Poivre introduced the nutmeg, clove, and other Asian plants to the colonies of Ile de France and Bourbon (today Mauritius and Reunion). To break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade, he too resorted to smuggling, and even to night raids. But it was Poivre's description of the mountain rice of Vietnam, a country ruled by philosopher-princes, that particularly caught Jefferson's attention.

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Curiously, Pierre's surname means "pepper" (;audio|Fr-poivre.ogg|pronunciation) in French.

Writings by Poivre:

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=GhUPAAAAQAAJ&hl=ru&output=text&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 Voyages of a Philosopher] (Voyages d'un philosophe ou observations sur les moeurs et les arts des peuples de l'Afrique, de l'Asie et de l'Amérique) by Pierre Poivre, Fortuné-Barthélemy de Félice, 1769 - freely available at Google Books.
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=NzsQAAAAYAAJ&dq=pierre+poivre&lr=&ei=PdO2SP33JJW0yQSN6fTLAQ&hl=ru Tableau historique de l'Inde, contenant un abrégé de la mithologie et des mœurs indiennes] ; Pierre Poivre Издательство: Aux dépens de la Société typographique, 1771

External links

* [http://www.travelmauritius.info/pierre_poivre.html Photos of the Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses]
* [http://www.gaiadiscovery.com/latest-places/mauritius-heritage-in-pamplemousses-gardens.html Mauritius Heritage in Pamplemousses Gardens] - article by Tony Smart, July 30, 2008

References