Jean Marie Antoine Louis de Lanessan (13 July 1861– 7 November 1935) was a French

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

and naturalist.

Biography

De Lanessan was born in

Saint-André-de-Cubzac Saint-André-de-Cubzac (; oc, Sent Andreus de Cubzac) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France. Its inhabitants are called Cubzaguais. Population Notable residents Jacques-Yves Cousteau is buried ...

in the

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and entered the

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in 1880, serving on the

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n and

Cochin-China Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...

stations in the medical department until the Franco-Prussian War, when he resigned and volunteered for the army medical service. He then completed his studies, taking his doctorate in 1882. Elected to the Municipal Council of Paris in 1879, de Lanessan declared in favor of communal autonomy and joined with

Henri Rochefort Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Montm ...

in demanding the erection of a monument to the

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; but after his election to the

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for the

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in 1881 he gradually veered from the extreme Radical party to the Republican Union, and identified himself with the cause of colonial expansion. A government mission to the French colonies in 1886-1887, in connection with the approaching

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, gave him the opportunity of studying colonial questions, on which, after his return, he published three works: ''La Tunisie'' (Paris, 1887); ''L'Expansion coloniale de la France'' (ib., 1888), ''L'Indo-Chine francaise'' (ib., 1889). In 1891 he was made civil and military governor of French Indochina, where his administration, which led to open rupture with Admiral Fournier, was severely criticized. Nevertheless, he consolidated French influence in Annam and

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, and secured a large accession of territory on the

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from the kingdom of

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. He was recalled in 1894, and published an apology for his administration (''La Colonisation francaise en Indo-Chine'') in the following year. In the

Waldeck-Rousseau Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany. His father, René Wal ...

cabinet of 1899 to 1902 he was

Minister of Marine One of France's Secretaries of State under the Ancien Régime was entrusted with control of the French Navy (Secretary of State of the Navy (France).) In 1791, this title was changed to Minister of the Navy. Before January 1893, this position also ...

, and in 1901 he secured the passage of a naval programme intended to raise the French navy during the next six years to a level befitting the place of France among the great powers. At the general election of 1906 he was not re-elected. He was political director of the Siècle, and president of the

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, and wrote, besides the books already mentioned, various works on political and biological questions. He retired in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

, where it was rumored that he had an illegitimate child with a

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woman. De Lanessan was an advocate of neo-Lamarckian evolution.Maienschein, Jane; Ruse, Michael. (1999). ''Biology and the Foundations of Ethics''. Cambridge University Press. p. 86. "Edmond Perrier, Jean de Lanessan, Alfred Giard, and Felix Le Dantec popularized a neo-Lamarckian biology that stressed the inheritance of acquired characteristics and the influence of the environment on living organisms."

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanessan, Jean Marie Antoine 1843 births 1919 deaths Lamarckism People from Gironde Politicians of the French Third Republic Ministers of Marine Governors-General of French Indochina