Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais
Encyclopedia
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
, 11 February 1699 – Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 10 November 1753) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
naval officer and administrator, in the service of the French East India Company
French East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
.
Biography
La Bourdonnais was born on 11 February 1699 in Saint-MaloSaint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. He went to sea when a boy, and in 1718 entered the service of the French East India Company as a lieutenant. In 1724 he was promoted captain, and displayed such bravery in the capture of Mahé off the Malabar Coast
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
that the name of the town was added to his own. For two years he was in the service of the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, but in 1735 he returned to French service as governor of the Île de France (Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
) and the Île de Bourbon (Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
). His first five years' administration of the islands was vigorous and successful. A visit to France in 1740 was interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities with Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and La Bourdonnais was put at the head of a fleet in Indian waters.
Joseph François Dupleix
Joseph-François, Marquis Dupleix was governor general of the French establishment in India, and the rival of Robert Clive.-Biography:Dupleix was born in Landrecies, France...
at Pondicherry, defeated Lord Peyton
Edward Peyton
Edward Peyton was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession and took part in an inconclusive battle off Bengal....
(d.1749), and in 1746 participated in the Siege of Madras
Battle of Madras
The Battle of Madras or Fall of Madras or Battle of Adyar took place in September 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession when a French force attacked and captured the city of Madras from its British garrison....
. He quarrelled with Dupleix over the conduct of affairs in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and his anger was increased on his return to the Île de France, when he found that Dupleix had appointed a successor as governor. He set sail on a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
vessel to present his case at court, and was captured by the British, but allowed to return to France on parole. Instead of securing a settlement of his quarrel with Dupleix, he was arrested (1748) on a charge of gubernatorial speculation
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
and maladministration, and secretly imprisoned for over two years in the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
. He was tried in 1751 and acquitted, but his health was broken by the imprisonment and by chagrin at the loss of his property. To the last he made unjust accusations against Dupleix. He died at Paris on 10 November 1753. The French government gave his widow a pension of 2400 livres
French livre
The livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
.
Mahé, Seychelles
Mahé is the largest island of the Seychelles, lying in the north east of the nation. The population of Mahé is 80,000. It contains the capital city of Victoria and accommodates 90% of the country's total population...
, Mahébourg
Mahébourg
Mahébourg is a small city on the southeastern coast of the island of Mauritius. It is the capital of the Grand Port District.- Overview :...
(Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
) and two streets in Pondicherry: Labourdonnais street and Mahé de Labourdonnais street. Port Louis
Port Louis
-Economy:The economy is dominated by its port, which handles Mauritius' international trade. The port was founded by the French who preferred Port Louis as the City is shielded by the Port Louis/Moka mountain range. It is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can...
, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
has a hotel which bears his name, the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel and also a school bearing his name Lycée La Bourdonnais.
La Bourdonnais left memoirs which were published by his grandson, a celebrated chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player, Count Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century.- Early life :...
(1795–1840). He also wrote Traité de la mâture des vaisseaux (Paris, 1723).
Autobiography
- B.-F. Mahé de La Bourdonnais: Mémoires historiques de B.-F. Mahé de La Bourdonnais, gouverneur des îles de France et de la Réunion, recueillis et publiés par son petit-fils... (Cte A.-C. Mahé de La Bourdonnais). Paris, 1890 (with a second edition (Paris,1898))
Biography
- Histoire, ou éloge historique de M. Mahé de La Bourdonnais. [n. p.: n. d.]
- Île Maurice: Mahé de La Bourdonnais: documents réunis par le comité du bi-centenaire de La Bourdonnais, 11 février 1899, avec des annotations par le comité des souvenirs historiques. (2 août 1899). Port-Louis : E. Pezzani, 1899
- Étienne Buisson: Le mirage de l'Inde: la dramatique existence d'un grand Français au XVIIIe siècle : Bertrand Mahé de La Bourdonnais. Paris : Hachette, 1937.
- Pierre Crépin: Mahé de La Bourdonnais, gouverneur général des îles de France et de Bourbon (1699–1753) ... . Paris : Leroux, n. d.
- Louis Ducrocq: Une ingratitude nationale: La Bourdonnais, gouverneur des îles de France et de Bourbon, 1735–1746. Arras : Sueur-Charruey, 1902 (Reprinted from the Revue de Lille of August 1902)
- Philippe Haudrère: La Bourdonnais: marin et aventurier. Paris : Desjonquères, 1992 ISBN 2-904227-63-6
- E. Herpin: Mahé de La Bourdonnais et la Compagnie des Indes. Saint-Brieuc : R. Prud'homme, 1905
- Alfred de Longpérier-Grimoard: Notice historique sur La Bourdonnais. Paris, 1856
- Huguette Ly Tio Fane-Pineo: Île de France, 1715–1746. Tome I. L'émergence de Port Louis . Moka (Île Maurice) : Mahatma Gandhi Institute, 1993 ISBN 99903-39-00-7
- Michel Missoffe: Dupleix et La Bourdonnais: essai critique. Paris : Ligue maritime et coloniale, 1943
- Dureau Reydellet: Mahé de La Bourdonnais, gouverneur des Mascareignes. Saint-Denis: Éd. CNH, 1994 (Cahiers de notre histoire ; 45–46) ISBN 2-909471-14-4
- Louis Roubaud: La Bourdonnais. Publication : Paris : Plon, 1932 (Les grandes figures coloniales ; 10)
- Jackie Ryckebusch: Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais : entre les Indes et les Mascareignes. Sainte-Clotilde : Éd. du CRI, 1989 (Collection: Figures) ISBN 2-907017-05-5
- Robert Surcouf: Souvenirs historiques sur Mahé de La Bourdonnais: le combat de La Hogue. Eloge de La Tour d'Auvergne. Portzmoguer (Primauguet). Saint-Malo, 1886
- Le Guide de Pondichéry. L'unique guide français de Pondichéry. Editions Presse Bureau 2008/2009. Pondichéry.
- Pondicherry Heritage Trail. Published by INTACH, Pondicherry. December 2007.