Biography

French naturalist and colonial administrator. Born in Lyon, Pierre Sonnerat's career began as a private secretary to his godfather, the Mascarenes administrator and explorer Pierre Poivre. The pair sailed in 1767 for Isle de France (Mauritius), where it is said that Sonnerat met the naturalist Philibert Commerson, who had disembarked from Bougainville's circumnavigation in 1768, and went on to work with him on his surveys of the natural resources of Isle de France and Bourbon (Réunion). This account of Sonnerat's activities at the time has been disputed, however, and it is more likely he was engaged as a writer on board the naval vessel l'Isle de France, and then in 1771-72 participated in the second Moluccan Expedition organised by Poivre. Sonnerat published an account of this trip in 1776 under the title Voyage à la Nouvelle Guinée (later translated into English, German and Swedish). In terms of natural history collecting during these travels, he chiefly gathered birds, but also some plants.

In 1773 Sonnerat was at the Cape of Good Hope, where he met and collected alongside Carl Thunberg before returning to Europe. He was soon elected a correspondent to Adanson at the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris and to the Cabinet du Roi. The following year he was also promoted to the naval commissary, an appointment that saw Sonnerat spend many sojourns in south-east India from 1775 onwards, in command of French settlements at Yanam and Pondicherry. He also spent periods in Ceylon (Sri Lanka, 1788 and 1789), Madagascar (1789) and the Cape of Good Hope again, and visited China in 1776 (where his movements were heavily restricted) before returning to France in 1781. He remained there four years, during which time he married Marguerite Ménissier and published his two-volume work, Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine, giving his observations of the countries he had visited since 1774. He had sent some 300 botanical specimens to Adanson from Isle de France, the Coromandel Coast, China, Malabar and Malacca, and kept a personal collection of butterflies from his journeys. He had begun a correspondence with Joseph Banks, also, but despite his imploring the British botanist to help him become a member of the Royal Society, he was not successful.

Sonnerat's next position began in Pondicherry in 1786, to which he travelled via the Cape of Good Hope with his wife and son. It was a depressing place at this time, battered by war and lack of prosperity. In 1789 he was transferred to the formerly English-governed settlement of Yanam, as commandant, where his interference in local commerce brought him into disfavour with the local European population. In 1795 Sonnerat had another group of people to contend with when the English invaded and took him prisoner of war for a period. He spent the next 18 years collecting material for a third major publication to be titled Nouveau Voyage aux Indes Orientales. Both the collections and the manuscript were also casualties of war, however, apart from some specimens that reached A.-L. de Jussieu in Paris. In recognition of his work in India, Sonnerat was honoured with elections to several scientific societies (as 'correspondant'), including the botanical section of the Institut National and the Société Académique des Sciences. Sonnerat was finally able to make his way back to Europe in 1813, when he met Joseph Banks in London. He then returned to Paris in January 1814, but died three months later. The genus Sonneratia L.f. commemorates him.

Sources:
A. Lacroix, 1934, Notice historique sur les Membres et Correspondants de l'Académie des Sciences: 70-75
M. Ly-Tio-Fane, 1976, Pierre Sonnerat 1748-1814: an account of his life and work
A. Magnin, 1906, Annales de la Société Botanique de Lyon, 31: 34-35
S.P. Oliver, 1892, Gardeners' Chronicle, ser. 3, 12: 338, 378.

Biography

French naturalist and colonial administrator. Born in Lyon, Pierre Sonnerat's career began as a private secretary to his godfather, the Mascarenes administrator and explorer Pierre Poivre. The pair sailed in 1767 for Isle de France (Mauritius), where it is said that Sonnerat met the naturalist Philibert Commerson, who had disembarked from Bougainville's circumnavigation in 1768, and went on to work with him on his surveys of the natural resources of Isle de France and Bourbon (Réunion). This account of Sonnerat's activities at the time has been disputed, however, and it is more likely he was engaged as a writer on board the naval vessel l'Isle de France, and then in 1771-72 participated in the second Moluccan Expedition organised by Poivre. Sonnerat published an account of this trip in 1776 under the title Voyage à la Nouvelle Guinée (later translated into English, German and Swedish). In terms of natural history collecting during these travels, he chiefly gathered birds, but also some plants.

In 1773 Sonnerat was at the Cape of Good Hope, where he met and collected alongside Carl Thunberg before returning to Europe. He was soon elected a correspondent to Adanson at the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris and to the Cabinet du Roi. The following year he was also promoted to the naval commissary, an appointment that saw Sonnerat spend many sojourns in south-east India from 1775 onwards, in command of French settlements at Yanam and Pondicherry. He also spent periods in Ceylon (Sri Lanka, 1788 and 1789), Madagascar (1789) and the Cape of Good Hope again, and visited China in 1776 (where his movements were heavily restricted) before returning to France in 1781. He remained there four years, during which time he married Marguerite Ménissier and published his two-volume work, Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine, giving his observations of the countries he had visited since 1774. He had sent some 300 botanical specimens to Adanson from Isle de France, the Coromandel Coast, China, Malabar and Malacca, and kept a personal collection of butterflies from his journeys. He had begun a correspondence with Joseph Banks, also, but despite his imploring the British botanist to help him become a member of the Royal Society, he was not successful.

Sonnerat's next position began in Pondicherry in 1786, to which he travelled via the Cape of Good Hope with his wife and son. It was a depressing place at this time, battered by war and lack of prosperity. In 1789 he was transferred to the formerly English-governed settlement of Yanam, as commandant, where his interference in local commerce brought him into disfavour with the local European population. In 1795 Sonnerat had another group of people to contend with when the English invaded and took him prisoner of war for a period. He spent the next 18 years collecting material for a third major publication to be titled Nouveau Voyage aux Indes Orientales. Both the collections and the manuscript were also casualties of war, however, apart from some specimens that reached A.-L. de Jussieu in Paris. In recognition of his work in India, Sonnerat was honoured with elections to several scientific societies (as 'correspondant'), including the botanical section of the Institut National and the Société Académique des Sciences. Sonnerat was finally able to make his way back to Europe in 1813, when he met Joseph Banks in London. He then returned to Paris in January 1814, but died three months later. The genus Sonneratia L.f. commemorates him.

Sources:
A. Lacroix, 1934, Notice historique sur les Membres et Correspondants de l'Académie des Sciences: 70-75
M. Ly-Tio-Fane, 1976, Pierre Sonnerat 1748-1814: an account of his life and work
A. Magnin, 1906, Annales de la Société Botanique de Lyon, 31: 34-35
S.P. Oliver, 1892, Gardeners' Chronicle, ser. 3, 12: 338, 378.

Biography

French naturalist and colonial administrator. Born in Lyon, Pierre Sonnerat's career began as a private secretary to his godfather, the Mascarenes administrator and explorer Pierre Poivre. The pair sailed in 1767 for Isle de France (Mauritius), where it is said that Sonnerat met the naturalist Philibert Commerson, who had disembarked from Bougainville's circumnavigation in 1768, and went on to work with him on his surveys of the natural resources of Isle de France and Bourbon (Réunion). This account of Sonnerat's activities at the time has been disputed, however, and it is more likely he was engaged as a writer on board the naval vessel l'Isle de France, and then in 1771-72 participated in the second Moluccan Expedition organised by Poivre. Sonnerat published an account of this trip in 1776 under the title Voyage à la Nouvelle Guinée (later translated into English, German and Swedish). In terms of natural history collecting during these travels, he chiefly gathered birds, but also some plants.

In 1773 Sonnerat was at the Cape of Good Hope, where he met and collected alongside Carl Thunberg before returning to Europe. He was soon elected a correspondent to Adanson at the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris and to the Cabinet du Roi. The following year he was also promoted to the naval commissary, an appointment that saw Sonnerat spend many sojourns in south-east India from 1775 onwards, in command of French settlements at Yanam and Pondicherry. He also spent periods in Ceylon (Sri Lanka, 1788 and 1789), Madagascar (1789) and the Cape of Good Hope again, and visited China in 1776 (where his movements were heavily restricted) before returning to France in 1781. He remained there four years, during which time he married Marguerite Ménissier and published his two-volume work, Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine, giving his observations of the countries he had visited since 1774. He had sent some 300 botanical specimens to Adanson from Isle de France, the Coromandel Coast, China, Malabar and Malacca, and kept a personal collection of butterflies from his journeys. He had begun a correspondence with Joseph Banks, also, but despite his imploring the British botanist to help him become a member of the Royal Society, he was not successful.

Sonnerat's next position began in Pondicherry in 1786, to which he travelled via the Cape of Good Hope with his wife and son. It was a depressing place at this time, battered by war and lack of prosperity. In 1789 he was transferred to the formerly English-governed settlement of Yanam, as commandant, where his interference in local commerce brought him into disfavour with the local European population. In 1795 Sonnerat had another group of people to contend with when the English invaded and took him prisoner of war for a period. He spent the next 18 years collecting material for a third major publication to be titled Nouveau Voyage aux Indes Orientales. Both the collections and the manuscript were also casualties of war, however, apart from some specimens that reached A.-L. de Jussieu in Paris. In recognition of his work in India, Sonnerat was honoured with elections to several scientific societies (as 'correspondant'), including the botanical section of the Institut National and the Société Académique des Sciences. Sonnerat was finally able to make his way back to Europe in 1813, when he met Joseph Banks in London. He then returned to Paris in January 1814, but died three months later. The genus Sonneratia L.f. commemorates him.

Sources:
A. Lacroix, 1934, Notice historique sur les Membres et Correspondants de l'Académie des Sciences: 70-75
M. Ly-Tio-Fane, 1976, Pierre Sonnerat 1748-1814: an account of his life and work
A. Magnin, 1906, Annales de la Société Botanique de Lyon, 31: 34-35
S.P. Oliver, 1892, Gardeners' Chronicle, ser. 3, 12: 338, 378.