The first woman to circumnavigate the world by sea

Jeanne Baret, the botanist, was born in an era when all scientific discovery was almost exclusively male.

Despite this, she disguised herself as a man and participated in a scientific survey conducted by the French Navy and became the first woman to circumnavigate the Earth by water.

'herb girl'

Born on July 27, 1740, in La Comelle, France, Jeanne Baret lived in a poor peasant family. Although, life was difficult, the rural environment and her father's work instilled in her a passion for trees. In her youth, she was known by many as the 'herb girl'.

Baret's curiosity caught the attention of scientist Philibert Commerson , who recruited the young girl as a housekeeper when he went to La Comelle to find a research sample. Before long, she was attracted to the work of this famous naturalist. In contrast, Commerson also developed feelings for the young girl, after his wife died in 1762.

After giving birth to their first child two years later, the couple moved to Paris and gave the child up for adoption. Baret went through a butler, then a nurse, and according to some accounts, she also became a teacher who passed on her knowledge of natural plants to Commerson.

In Paris, Commerson belonged to the city's elite. Because of his connections and fame, when Admiral Louis-Antoine de Bougainville received orders to expand his sphere of influence to France in 1766, by a scientific expedition around the world, he was appointed primary naturalist for the journey. And Commerson has no assistants other than Baret.

Science journey

Naturalist Philibert Commerson.

Although Commerson emphasized the need for his female assistant for the expedition, the French Navy commander was adamant that women were not allowed in the crew according to the strict regulations at the time. So the couple found another way.

Jeanne Baret pressed her chest, wearing a loose sailor suit to disguise herself as a man. By the time Commerson was on board, she reached out and asked to join the crew. They succeeded with their plan, even being accommodated with scientific equipment. She was called 'Jean' , after her father. This was the first expedition by a European country to have a naturalist on board, so both were very privileged.

After departing from Nantes in 1766, the expedition landed in South America for the first time. But now Commerson was ill and it was Baret who left the ship and collected the specimen. During an expedition to the mainland, Baret discovered a strange new flowering grape species and she named Bougainvillea brasiliensis in honor of the admiral in charge of the ship.

Sharing a room with Commerson made it easy for Jeanne Baret to hide her identity and this secret lasted for nearly a year. By the time the ship reached the South Pacific, many of the crew had begun to suspect ' Jean' , whom they had never seen urinating or changing clothes in front of them.

According to reports, a Tahitian boarded the train and immediately addressed her with a word that means 'one in disguise ', in the Tahiti dialect. But the crew mistook the word for 'girl' and so they tried to expose 'Jean'.

One document shows that, when the ship arrived in New Guinea, some sailors tried to rape her. Proof of this lies in the fact that she was quarantined for 9 months and gave birth when the ship arrived in the French colony of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

To avoid punishment, both Jeanne and Commerson claimed that this was only Jeanne's own ruse and that they did not know each other before the journey. As soon as the ship reached French territory, the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, Baret and Commerson were forced to leave the ship, after 22 months of exploration.

Baret spent the next 7 years in Mauritius. She also placed her second child in foster care and witnessed Commerson's death in 1773. She later married a sailor and eventually returned to France with him in 1774, completing the voyage. around the world.

Honor comes late

Jeanne Baret in disguise on a scientific expedition.

Upon returning to his homeland, Baret received a generous sum of money from the Commerson family, paying for his work. But more surprisingly, in 1785 she received a pension from the French Navy, at the personal request of Admiral Bougainville, who considered her an 'extraordinary woman'. She received 200 livres (French currency at the time) a year, until her death on August 5, 1807.

Only in the last decade has Jeanne Baret begun to receive the recognition she deserves. When museum scientists began publishing some of Commerson's species descriptions, pioneering evolutionary biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck was the only one to mention Jeanne Baret's contribution and bravery. A biography of Glynis .'s grandmother

Ridley, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, published in 2010. In 2012, a new species of South American nocturnal beetle was named Solanum baretiae in her honor.

On July 27, 2020, Google celebrated the 280th birthday of Jeanne Baret at Google Doodle, announced on the Internet France, Italy, Croatia, Ireland, Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Canada, Australia, Tanzania, Kenya , Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Hinduras, Costa Rica, Dominica, Panama and New Zealand.

By the time the disguise was discovered, Jeanne Baret had listed more than 6,000 plant specimens, shells, and even new rocks for French scientists. Jeanne helped Commerson amass the largest known personal natural history collection at the time. Thousands of specimens of plants can be found in the herb section of the Paris Museum of Natural History, although very few bear the name Jeanne Baret.