Pierre-Olivier Malherbe (1569–1616) was a French explorer from the city of Vitré.

Biography

Pierre-Olivier Malherbe went on 27-year world tour, and returned to France in 1609. He has a claim to being the first French circumnavigator.''Asia in the Making of Europe'' p.393
/ref> He visited China, and in India had an encounter with Akbar. Upon his return, Pierre-Olivier Malherbe met several times with the French king Henry IV, to tell him about the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

of the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

. He explained about the routes to reach these places, and offered to lead an expedition for the king. Pierre-Olivier Malherbe may have been the author of a

Malay language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...

dictionary, which was added to François Martin de Vitré's work ''La Description du premier voyage fait aux Indes orientales par les Français en l'an 1603'' in 1609. He is mentioned in the 1629 ''Traité de navigation et des voyages de découvertes et conquêtes, principalement des François'' by geographer Pierre Bergeron. In Paris, he also met with the Dutch linguist

Erpenius Thomas van Erpe, also known as Thomas Erpenius (September 11, 1584November 13, 1624), Dutch Orientalist, was born at Gorinchem, in Holland. He was the first European to publish an accurate book of Arabic grammar. After completing his early educa ...

, who was preparing the first Latin–Arab Dictionary.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malherbe, Pierre-Olivier 1569 births 1616 deaths People from Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine French explorers French expatriates in China Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine Explorers of India French expatriates in India Explorers of China

Biography

See also

Notes