Louis Feuillée

Who was Louis Feuillée?

Louis Éconches Feuillée was a French member of the Order of the Minims, explorer, astronomer, geographer, and botanist.

Feuillée was educated at the Minim convent of Mane, in Provence. He was born in Mane, near Forcalquier, in 1660. He was taught astronomy and cartography by Jean Mathieu de Chazelles, and Charles Plumier, who had described some 6,000 species of plants during a voyage to the Caribbean, taught him botany.

He attracted the attention of members of the Academy of Sciences and in 1699 was sent by order of the king on a voyage to the Levant with Giovanni Domenico Cassini to determine the geographical positions of a number of seaports and other cities. The success of the undertaking led him to make a similar journey to the Antilles in 1703. He left Marseilles on February 5, 1703, and arrived at Martinique on April 11.

A severe sickness was the cause of considerable delay, but in September of the following year he began a cruise along the northern coast of South America, making observations at numerous ports.

In the Antilles, he collected new species of flora and drew a map of Martinique; he also explored the Venezuelan coast. He returned to France in June 1706. his work won recognition from the Government, and he immediately began preparations for a more extended voyage along the western coast of South America to continue his observations. He received the title of "Royal Mathematician" from Louis XIV of France, and armed with letters from the ministry, set sail from Marseilles on December 14, 1707.