Jean François Sylvestre Denis de Trobriand (7 June 1765 – 16 March 1799) was a French naval officer and navigator who particularly distinguished himself during the expedition of

d'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux (; 8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Isle de France from 1787 to 1789. He is best known ...

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

(1791–94). The Trobriand Islands in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

were named after him.

Biography

Born in

Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. He was one of three children of Jean François Sylvestre Denis, count of Trobriand (1729–1810) and Jeanne Charlotte Le Gris du Clos (1735–?). He joined the French Navy and became a midshipman in 1780, initially serving under Bougainville and taking part in the American War of Independence. In 1791, he embarked as a first lieutenant on the ''Espérance'', a ship captained by Jean-Michel Kermadec. ''Espérance'' was one of two vessels of an expedition mounted by

, to search for an earlier expedition led by Jean-François Lapérouse, which had not been heard from since 1788. The d'Entrecasteaux expedition explored parts of the Australian coast,

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

, and, in what is now

, the Admiralty Islands, before heading to Ambon in the Moluccas to take on supplies. It then returned towards Australia. The death of Kermadec in New Caledonia led to a decision to return to France. En route, the ships passed through the Louisiade Archipelago whose islands include some subsequently named after Trobriand. Visiting

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

on their way back to France, and unaware of the

Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, 1672 to 1678, was primarily fought by Kingdom of France, France and the Dutch Republic, with both sides backed at different times by a variety of allies. Related conflicts include the 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and ...

, the surviving crews of both vessels were detained and their ships confiscated and broken up. Trobriand was taken to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and only returned to France in 1797. There he was appointed Commander and sailed for

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

, where he died in 1799, possibly as a result of poisoning ordered by Toussaint Louverture during the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trobriand, Jean Francois Sylvestre Denis de 18th-century French explorers French explorers of the Pacific French Navy officers French maritime navigators Explorers of Papua New Guinea Trobriand Islands Maritime exploration of Australia 1765 births 1799 deaths French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War