François Le Vaillant
Encyclopedia
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...
author, explorer, naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist.
Biography
François Le Vaillant was born in ParamariboParamaribo
Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...
, the capital of Dutch Guiana (Surinam), the son of the French consul. When his father returned to Europe, in 1763, he studied natural history at Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
. He was sent by the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
to the Cape Province
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa...
of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1781, and collected specimens there until 1784. He made three journeys, one around Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and Saldanha Bay
Saldanha Bay
Saldanha Bay is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa, north west of Cape Town. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality in 2000. The current population of...
, one eastwards from the Cape and the third north of the Orange River
Orange River
The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...
and into Great Namaqualand.
On his return he published Voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique (1790, 2 vols.), and Second voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique (1796, 3 vols.), both of which were translated into several languages. He also published Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique (1796–1808, 6 vols.) with drawings by Jacques Barraband
Jacques Barraband
Jacques Barraband was a French zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his life-like renderings of tropical birds.-Biography:...
, Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis (1801–06), Histoire naturelle des cotingas et des todiers (1804) and Histoire naturelle des calaos (1804). Levaillant’s illustrations often influenced scientific names given by, among others, Vieillot
Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot
Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot was a French ornithologist.Vieillot described a large number of birds for the first time, especially those he encountered during the time he spent in the West Indies and North America, and 26 genera established by him are still in use...
, Stephens and Wilkes.
Over 2,000 bird skins were sent to Jacob Temminck, who had financed the expedition, and these were later studied by his son Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.Temminck was the first director of the National Natural History Museum at Leiden from 1820 until his death. His Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe was the standard work on European birds...
and included in the collection of the museum at Leiden. Other specimens were kept in the cabinet of Joan Raye, heer van Breukelerwaert. This collection was bought by the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in the late 1820s, which is now the Naturalis
Naturalis
Naturalis is the national natural history museum of the Netherlands, based in Leiden. It originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie in 1984. In 1986 it was decided that the museum had to become a public museum and a new...
in Leiden.
Le Vaillant died in poverty in La Noue, near Sézanne
Sézanne
Sézanne is a commune in the Marne department and Champagne-Ardenne region in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are called Sézannais.-See also:*Communes of the Marne department...
(Marne
Marne
Marne is a department in north-eastern France named after the river Marne which flows through the department. The prefecture of Marne is Châlons-en-Champagne...
).
Bird names
Le Vaillant was opposed to the systematic nomenclature introduced by Carolus LinnaeusCarolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
and only gave the new species he discovered French names. Some of these are still in use as common names, such as Bateleur
Bateleur
The Bateleur is a medium-sized eagle in the bird family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as buzzards, kites and harriers...
Terathopius ecaudatus. Other naturalists were left to assign binomial names to his new discoveries. Some of these honoured Le Vaillant:
- Levaillant's Barbethttp://www.bird-stamps.org/species/96077.htm
- Levaillant's CisticolaLevaillant's CisticolaLevaillant's Cisticola or Tinkling Cisticola, Cisticola tinniens, is a small passerine bird Levaillant's Cisticola or Tinkling Cisticola, Cisticola tinniens, is a small passerine bird Levaillant's Cisticola or Tinkling Cisticola, Cisticola tinniens, is a small passerine bird (though Tinkling...
- Levaillant's CuckooLevaillant's CuckooLevaillant's Cuckoo, Clamator levaillantii is a cuckoo which is a resident breeding species in Africa south of the Sahara. It is found in bushy habitats. It is a brood parasite, using the nests of bulbuls and babblers...
- Levaillant's Parrothttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qrsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=levaillant%27s+parrot&source=bl&ots=6L7kS_GYNR&sig=IXQwpnFJttNRBZ_zq9yu0jYdiXY&hl=en&ei=Vto8Sq7-O4GQjAeUnKkC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
- Levaillant's Tchagrahttp://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/spec/spec177-12.html
- Levaillant's WoodpeckerLevaillant's WoodpeckerThe Levaillant’s Woodpecker or Levaillant’s Green Woodpecker is a large member of the woodpecker family Piciformes. It occurs as a resident breeder in the three Maghreb countries Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in northwest Africa....
Works
- François Le Vaillant: Voyage de M. Le Vaillant dans l'Intérieur de l'Afrique par Le Cap de Bonne Espérance, dans Les années 1783, 84 & 85. Paris Leroy, 1790, 2 volumes.
- François Levaillant: Second voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique, par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, dans les annees 1783, 84 et 85. Paris H.J. Jansen et Comp., An III (1795), 3 volumes. vol.1 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5401097k, vol. 2 http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N5401102, vol 3 http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?O=N5401103
- Histoire naturelle d'une partie d'oiseaux nouveaux et rares de l'Amérique et des Indes : ouvrage destiné par l'auteur à faire partie de son ornithologie d'Afrique. Paris 1801. 1. vol. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k99002p
- Histoire naturelle des perroquets, Paris Levrault, Schoell & Cie, An IX-XII (1801–1805), 2 volumes. vol.1 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97063d, vol. 2 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97064r
- Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celles des toucans et des barbus, Paris, Denné le jeune & Perlet, (1801–1806), 2 volumes.
- Histoire naturelle des promérops et des guêpiers (et des couroucous et touracos, faisant suite à celle des oiseaux de paradis), Paris Levrault, (1806) 1807, (1816 ou 1818) 3 volumes.
- Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique. Paris, Delachaussee, XIII-1805-1808. 6 volumes vol. 1 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k99291p, vol. 2 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k992921 vol. 4 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k99294q, vol. 5 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k992952, vol. 6 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k99296d
- Partie Méridionale de l'Afrique depuis le Tropique du Capricorne jusqu'au Cap de Bonne Espérance contenant les Pays des Hottentots, des Cafres et de quelques autres Nations / dressée pour le Roi sur les observations de M. Le Vaillant par M. de Laborde, ancien premier valet de chambre du Roi, gouverneur du Louvre, l'un des Fermiers généraux de Sa Majesté http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7759098g
in English translation:
- Francois Le Vaillant: Travels into the interior parts of Africa, by way of the Cape of Good Hope; in the years 1780, 1781 82, 83, 84, and 85. London 1796
- Francois Le Vaillant:New travels into the interior parts of Africa, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, in the years 1783, 84 and 85. London 1796