Baret, Jeanne (1740–after 1795)
Baret, Jeanne (1740–after 1795)
French adventurer. Name variations: Jeanne Barret, Jeanne Mercadier. Born into modest circumstances in Bourgogne, France, 1740; died after 1795; married a soldier named Antoine Barnier (or Antoine Du Bernat).
Worked in Paris as servant for botanist Philibert Commerson; posing as a male valet named Bonnefoy, became the 1st woman to circumnavigate the globe by participating in an expedition led by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1764); while on the expedition, assisted Commerson in his botanical field trips, on which they discovered a sizeable body of new botanical data, including the South American climbing plant Bougainvillea, named for the captain; returned to France after Commerson's death (1773); achieved status of celebrity and was granted an annual pension by Louis XV; had reputation further enhanced by Bougainville's favorable description of her participation, published in his account of voyage (1771). The genera Baretia and a species of plant, Bonna fidia, were named in her honor.
See also Women in World History.