A Nineteenth-Century French Migrant and Traveler in Northwestern Mexico: Gabriel Ferry’s Romantic Impressions of Landscapes, Economy, and Society

Abstract

Louis-Eugène-Gabriel de Ferry de Bellemare, better known as Gabriel Ferry, was a Frenchman with a successful literary career. A native of Grenoble, he went to Mexico in the 1830s as part of a French migratory flow that settled in the ports and cities of the interior, in search of a better future (Ferry was interested in commercial opportunities). Although Ferry is known as a traveler, he was also a migrant, traveling throughout Mexico for 7 years. He recorded his impressions, which were influenced by Romanticism, in novels and travelogues. This article examines Ferry’s impressions of northwestern Mexico, particularly his commentaries about landscapes, economy, and society, documented in his Mexican-themed writings, Scènes de la vie sauvage au Mexique, Le coureur des bois ou les chercheurs d’or, and Impressions de voyages et aventures dans le Mexique, la Haute Californie et les régions de l’or.