The La Recherche Expedition of 1838 to 1840 was a French Admiralty expedition whose destination was the North Atlantic and Scandinavian islands, including the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern N ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

. The expedition in the Scandinavian countries from 1838 to 1840, was a direct continuation of shipments in 1835 and 1836. A letter dated 22 March 1837 revealed that

Joseph Paul Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. Biography Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subsequ ...

and

Xavier Marmier Xavier Marmier (; 22 June 180812 October 1892) was a French author born in Pontarlier, in Doubs. He had a passion for travelling, and this he combined throughout his life with the production of literature. After journeying in Switzerland, Belgium ...

were preparing a trip to Copenhagen and Christiania (Norway) whose purpose was to gather additional information on Iceland and Greenland. On 13 June 1838 the French corvette ''La Recherche'' left Le Havre in France, bound for Northern Scandinavia.

(1796–1858), a physician and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

was the commanding officer of the expedition. The expedition was on a purely scientific nature, rather than a colonial venture in cooperation with the governments of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and Sweden. Gaimard invited the

Sámi The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, R ...

minister and botanist

Lars Levi Læstadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregatio ...

on the voyage for his knowledge in botany and Sámi culture.

Auguste Bravais Auguste Bravais (; 23 August 1811, Annonay, Ardèche – 30 March 1863, Le Chesnay, France) was a French physicist known for his work in crystallography, the conception of Bravais lattices, and the formulation of Bravais law. Bravais also studied ...

, a French scientist and

Louis Bévalet Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

, a French artist, also accompanied the expedition. The company was given an international dimension. Gaimard had hired many renowned European scholars. The Arctic exploration in the 1870s marked a watershed in the history of international scientific cooperation. The first evidence of this cooperation was, in 1882, the International Polar Year.

Publications

* **Vol. 1, part 1. Preface & Chapitre I, p. 1-286 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00002/11348/7917.pdf **Vol. 1, rest of Chapitre I, p. 287-564 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00002/11348/7917.pdf **Vol. 2, part. 1. Chapitre II & III p. 1 - 248 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00002/11356/7929.pdf **Vol. 2, part 2. Chapitre IV p. 249 - 448 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00002/11357/7930.pdf **Vol. 3, part 1. Chapitre V, Variations de l'Intensité magnétique verticale, Chapitre VI, Variations de l'inclinaison magnétique, Chapitre VII, Mesures de l'inclinaison magnétique. Chapitre VIII, Variations simultanées des éleménts du magnétisme terrestre p. 1-250 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00002/11358/7931.pdf **Vol. 3, part 2., s. 249-497 Chapitre IX, Électricité atmosphérique http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00002/11359/7932.pdf * *

References

Late modern Europe 1830s in science 1838 in Europe 1839 in Europe 1840 in Europe Atlantic expeditions European expeditions Expeditions from France {{Europe-hist-stub