Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660) was a French governor of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, born in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and mutinied. In his dealings with the Malagasy, he was less successful; he was continually harassed by their intrigues and attacks during his entire term of office. In 1655, he returned to France and, not long after, he was appointed director general of the company; after again returning to Madagascar, he drowned on his voyage home on the 10th of June 1660. He is the author of a ''Histoire de la grande isle de Madagascar'' (1st edition 1658, 2nd edition 1661). Flacourt was one of the few, if not the only, Westerners to have recorded knowledge of the

elephant bird Elephant birds are extinct flightless birds belonging to the Order (biology), order Aepyornithiformes that were native to the island of Madagascar. They are thought to have gone extinct around 1000 CE, likely as a result of human activity. Eleph ...

s, sloth lemurs, giant fossas, and dwarf hippopotamus of Madagascar when they were possibly still extant. '' Flacourtia'', a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

family,

Salicaceae The Salicaceae are the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') includes the willows, poplars. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly expanded the circumsc ...

, was named in his honor .

Notes

References

* This cites: ** Arthur Malotet, ''Ét. de Flacourt, ou les origines de la colonisation française à Madagascar (1648–1661)'', (Paris, 1898). *

External links

*
Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar
' – online book (French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Flacourt, Etienne de Colonial governors of French Madagascar 17th-century French people 1607 births 1660 deaths People from Orléans French colonial governors and administrators People from the Orléanais