Jacques Gouin de Beauchene
Encyclopedia
Jacques Gouin de Beauchêne (1652–1730) was a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 explorer. His name is also spelled as Beauchesne. He was born in Saint-Malo
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...

 in 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...

, and died there at 78 years of age.

He was the captain of the Phelypeaux that sailed into the Strait of Magellan
Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...

 in 1699, and he named one of the islands there after Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

, and the bay after Louis, le Grand Dauphin. After a successful trading cruise along the coast of Chile and Peru, taking in a visit to the Galapagos Islands, he returned via Cape Horn, passing the Cape on 9 January 1701. Ten days later, he discovered the island that was named for him, Beauchene Island
Beauchene Island
Beauchene Island is the southernmost of the Falkland Islands, lying about 34 mi south of Porpoise Point in Lafonia. It was discovered in 1701 by Jacques Gouin de Beauchêne in whose honour it was named.-Geography:...

. He was the first Frenchman to sail Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

 from west to east. He also initiated trade relations between France, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

.
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