French Travelers Research Articles

How to succeed in exploration without really discovering anything: four French travelers in colonial Louisiana, 1714–63

Histories of colonial America in the last 20 years have emphasized European empires and the borderlands where empires confronted one another and the native peoples of the continent. The French colonies of New France and Louisiana did not truly control a vast territory however, only a chain of posts along major rivers. French Louisiana also never developed a profitable staple commodity such as sugar in the West Indies or pelts in New France. This article examines how four French Louisiana explorers – Jean-François-Benjamin Dumont de Montigny, Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, Etienne Veniard de Bourgmont, and Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz – nonetheless sustained metropolitan interest in the colony by delivering to Paris maps, exploration accounts, and Indian alliances that promised access to vast wealth in Spanish New Mexico or a route to the Pacific Ocean. The four men sensed that information was a commodity which could exceed the value of staple products or, perhaps more accurately, that one individual could amass greater capital in the form of information than in the form of physical commodities, by feeding the desires of and sustaining the myths held by metropolitan officials and investors. De la Harpe and Bourgmont succeeded in winning titles of nobility from the Crown in exchange for their maps and narratives, and retired comfortably in France. Dumont and Le Page were less successful. They offered their knowledge in exchange for investments in further exploration, but found no takers. By the 1750s, a more pastoral fantasy of agricultural fertility was replacing the mercantilist fantasy of gold and silver such as had been found in New Spain.

Francis Vernon, the Early Royal Society and the First English Encounter with Ancient Greek Architecture

Francis Vernon (c. 1637-77) is not a particularly well-known figure in the history of British architecture, but perhaps he should be. In 1675 he became one of the first English people to have set foot in Athens and, the following year, published what was undisputedly the first account in the English language of the city and its architecture. Vernon was a member of the recently founded Royal Society and one of a group of English and French travellers who journeyed through central Greece and Turkey in the 1670s. He was murdered in Isfahan in early 1677. Vernon's account of the time he spent in Athens was published in the Society's journal, thePhilosophical Transactions, in 1676, and it included brief but illuminating descriptions of the Erechtheion, the Temple of Hephaestus and the Parthenon, the latter written over ten years before the bombing of the temple by a Venetian army in 1687. TheTransactionsoften contained both travel writing and antiquarian material and, in this respect, Vernon's account was typical of the journal's somewhat eclectic content in its early years. Significantly, Vernon's publication predated more famous accounts of Greece from the period, such as those written by his travelling companions Jacob Spon (who released hisVoyage d'ltalie, de Dalamatie, de Grèce et du Levantin France in 1678) and George Wheler, whoseA journey into Greecewas published in 1682. Unlike Vernon, both Spon and Wheler survived their journeys. The only European publication on Athens that preceded Vernon's was a French text of 1675 that would prove to be a fabrication. As this article will demonstrate, Vernon's initial exposure of this fabrication was one of the reasons why his account of the city became so important in English intellectual culture at the time.

Relire les Lettres d’Espagne de Mérimée by François Géal

evaluation is pessimistic: “Djebar interrogates the utility of autobiography both as a source of recapturing in the present an erased female past, and as a means of relating a text to a multiplicity of lives [...] what is the point, the writer seems to be asking, of writing the archive at all?” (86). Edwards’s case is thoroughly supported by her own close reading of each aspect of the novel, and her interpretation raises important questions about interpretations of Djebar’s literary project. The texts of the four writers Edwards has selected provide firm support for her conclusion that the “non-unitary subjectivity” she describes does not offer a solution to personal or societal problems, nor is it “a simple, cathartic or liberating mode of self-writing” (144). Yet, she contends, it “may indeed be a hallmark of contemporary women’s writing in French” (144). Dartmouth College (NH) Mary Jean Green GÉAL, FRANÇOIS. Relire les Lettres d’Espagne de Mérimée. Paris: Garnier, 2010. ISBN 978-2-8124-0195-4. Pp. 414. 54 a. With this study, Géal has authored the definitive work on Mérimée’s 1831 epistolary depiction of Spain. Following a recent trend, Géal, editor of Les lettres d’Espagne for the new edition of Mérimée’s Œuvres complètes, comes to Mérimée from a discipline outside French literary studies. Art historians, historians specializing in Spain, even museum curators, have recently published works on Mérimée, appropriately reflecting the diverse oeuvre of the author himself. Géal specializes in classical Spain and is therefore well trained to situate Mérimée’s Lettres in the context of Spanish studies and to bring a fresh perspective to them. French authors published some two hundred works on Spain from 1800–50 alone. In his introduction, Géal explains that this French fascination with the other side of the Pyrenees stems in part from the Spanish War of Independence (1808–14) that undoubtedly resonated with French liberals and their own revolutionary ideals. Géal carefully considers how Mérimée’s Lettres exploit or ignore the clichés of the récit de voyage and the stereotypes of a Romantic, savage, exotic Spain. He underscores that Mérimée is primarily concerned with “la contestation des hiérarchies traditionnelles au profit de valeurs plus authentiques incarnées par les hommes du peuple” (73). The book is organized into five chapters, each focusing on one of Mérimée’s letters. The chapter on Spanish bullfights situates Mérimée’s account in the contexts of the history of Spanish bullfighting, French travelers writing about the bullfight, and French and Spanish theater. I found Géal’s discussion of the corrida as carnival—where social hierarchies are erased and where good and evil are exchanged —particularly interesting. In the next chapter, analyzing Mérimée’s letter about a hanging in Valencia, Géal discusses Mérimée’s storytelling process, the likely connotations a hanging would have had for French readers in the 1830s, and the letter’s rejection of local color. But much of the chapter focuses on Mérimée’s marked preference for the people and his denigration of the upper class, implying the emergence of a political engagement on Mérimée’s part, in favor of the populace and against the bourgeoisie and civil authorities. Géal’s chapter on “Les voleurs” provides a great deal of background on both thieves in French travel narratives and on the geographic, political, and economic situations 824 FRENCH REVIEW 86.4 in Andalusia that made thievery such an attractive option in the early nineteenth century. In what is possibly the book’s strongest chapter, Géal argues that the letter on “Les sorcières espagnoles” can be read as Mérimée’s attempt to undermine conventions of the récit de voyage and to attack the logic of Enlightenment Europe: “Les certitudes de l’homme du Nord cultivé, socialement et intellectuellement en position de force, vont peu à peu s’effriter” (263). Finally, Géal looks at Mérimée’s fifth letter, usually not included in editions...

Les voyageurs de langue française et la domination vénitienne sur le royaume de Chypre (1480-1550)

Unlike the French travelers of the nineteenth century, those of the years 1480 to 1550 have not considered Cyprus as a country with specific links with the kingdom of France, despite the long period of Lusignan’s domination. In their eyes, the island was a country part of the Christian West, even if the indigenous population had specifics ritual practices ; testimonies expressing resentment from the Frankish elites against Venice are exceptional.

A “Hungarian experience”

Travelling is often a path to awareness. French travelers in Hungary between the two wars were penetrating another world which, however, was close to their hearts. The Ancient regime, for Pierre Delattre. The hope to meet a spirit hostile to all kinds of domination, for Pierre Chaillet. His own dreamt past for the young Nicolas de Rochefort. As far as Aurelien Sauvageot, Aldo Dami and even the journalists of the Action Francaise are concerned, Hungary was a sort of “almost perfect” distorting mirror.

Vaccinal issues between Belgian and French travelers

IntroductionThe yellow-fever vaccination center of the Tourcoing Hospital (France) has been accessible to Belgian travelers since its opening in 1994. MethodThe authors reported the specificities of these consultations during the year 2010, by retrospectively analyzing electronic medical records. ResultsSome medical issues encountered during the consultation were due to differences in vaccination schedules: for the polio vaccine, since the last dose is administered between 5 and 7 years of age in Belgium; and for the measles vaccine since a late two-dose schedule (second dose between 12 and 13 years of age) is recommended in this country. Moreover, some specific vaccines are available only in Belgium: a diphtheria-tetanus bivalent vaccine, and a live attenuated oral typhoid vaccine. DiscussionThe specificities of the Belgian border traveler consultation in our French yellow-fever center are due to a difference in European vaccination schedules; the physician must be aware of these. ConclusionThe physician has to propose updates on vaccination schedules, and be aware of yellow-fever vaccine compatibility with vaccines recently administered in Belgium.

Forget Waterloo

“Oubliez Waterloo,” these two words, written very large over the reproduction of Baron Charles von Steuben's romantic painting of Napoleon surrounded by a group of adoring soldiers on what looks like a battlefield, formed the motto of a 2007 advertisement campaign by Eurostar, the cross-Channel train system, as it replaced London’s Waterloo Station by Saint Pancras Station, as terminus of the London-Paris journey. Disseminated through the major French magazines and newspapers and posted over the main entrance of the Gare du Nord in Paris, this motto encouraged French travelers to forget an obsession with its past military splendor and live in a post-Waterloo era, the peaceful and exciting era of easy shopping and convenient traveling. But at the same time as Eurostar passengers were encouraged to “forget Waterloo,” the slogan as well as the painting (which is not representing Waterloo but the return of Napoleon from Elba) reminded them of the greatness of the event. Thus the advertisement was cleverly playing both on the banality of the exhortation (now it is time to live in a world of peace and friendly commercial exchanges) and the perverse and paradoxical attachment of the French for a battle that was their “Waterloo,” that signed the end of the legitimate power of their army as inheritor of the Revolution. This article analyzes the relation between defeat and narrative, “the strange translatory process,” according to which, “the French (…) managed to make an epic out of the (Waterloo) defeat” (John Keegan, The Face of Battle ).

A Cluster of Acute Diarrhea Suspected to Be Cholera in French Travelers in Haiti, December 2010

A cluster of 21 cases of watery diarrhea suspected to be cholera that involved French military policemen and young volunteers occurring in the context of the Haiti cholera outbreak is described. The attack rate (AR) was higher among young volunteers (71.4%) than among policemen (15.3%) (p < 0.0001). There was a significant association between raw vegetables consumption and watery diarrhea in the young volunteer group. If we consider the raw vegetables consumers only, AR was lower among doxycycline-exposed subjects (relative risk: 0.2; 95% confidence interval: 0.1-0.4). The main aspect that is of scientific interest is the potential prophylactic effect of doxycycline used for malaria prophylaxis on the watery diarrhea AR.

Travel Writing, Ethnography, and the Colony-Centric Voyage of the Jesuit Relations from New France

This article argues that the Jesuit Relations, commonly read as the accounts of daring French travelers to the New World in the seventeenth century, must also be understood in light of the colony-centric circulation of the texts. In a step that has never before been considered part of the process through which the Relations collected and circulated information, some—and perhaps all—of the texts were sent back to Canada after being edited and published in Paris, giving Jesuits in the colony an opportunity to consult the published texts to see how they had been changed in France. This article focuses on two related areas of scholarship on the Relations that need re-evaluation in light of the colony-centric circulation of the texts: the status of the texts as travel writing, and as the premiere source of ethnographic data on the Amerindian groups that the missionaries encountered in Eastern Canada.

Determinants of compliance with anti-vectorial protective measures among non-immune travellers during missions to tropical Africa

BackgroundThe effectiveness of anti-vectorial malaria protective measures in travellers and expatriates is hampered by incorrect compliance. The objective of the present study was to identify the determinants of compliance with anti-vectorial protective measures (AVPMs) in this population that is particularly at risk because of their lack of immunity.MethodsCompliance with wearing long clothing, sleeping under insecticide-impregnated bed nets (IIBNs) and using insect repellent was estimated and analysed by questionnaires administered to 2,205 French military travellers from 20 groups before and after short-term missions (approximately four months) in six tropical African countries (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon and Djibouti). For each AVPM, the association of "correct compliance" with individual and collective variables was investigated using random-effect mixed logistic regression models to take into account the clustered design of the study.ResultsThe correct compliance rates were 48.6%, 50.6% and 18.5% for wearing long clothing, sleeping under bed nets and using repellents, respectively. Depending on the AVPM, correct compliance was significantly associated with the following factors: country, older than 24 years of age, management responsibilities, the perception of a personal malaria risk greater than that of other travellers, the occurrence of life events, early bedtime (i.e., before midnight), the type of stay (field operation compared to training), the absence of medical history of malaria, the absence of previous travel in malaria-endemic areas and the absence of tobacco consumption.There was no competition between compliance with the different AVPMs or between compliance with any AVPM and malaria chemoprophylaxis.ConclusionInterventions aimed at improving compliance with AVPMs should target young people without management responsibilities who are scheduled for non-operational activities in countries with high risk of clinical malaria. Weak associations between compliance and history of clinical malaria or variables that pertain to threat perception suggest that cognition-based interventions referencing a "bad experience" with clinical malaria could have only a slight impact on the improvement of compliance. Further studies should focus on the cognitive and behavioural predictors of compliance with AVPMs.

The challenge of diagnosing Plasmodium ovale malaria in travellers: report of six clustered cases in french soldiers returning from West Africa

BackgroundPlasmodium ovale is responsible for 5% of imported malaria in French travellers. The clinical and biological features of six clustered cases of P. ovale malaria in an army unit of 62 French soldiers returning from the Ivory Coast are reported.Case reportAll patients were symptomatic and developed symptoms on average 50 days after their return and 20 days after the end of chemoprophylaxis (doxycycline). Clinical features included fever (6/6), mostly tertian (4/6), aches (6/6), nausea (3/6), abdominal pain (2/6), diarrhoea (2/6), or cough (2/6). Thrombocytopaenia was lower than 100,000/mm3 in half the cases only, and the haemoglobin count was normal for all patients. The diagnosis was made after at least three thick and thin blood smear searches. Parasitaemia was always lower than 0.5%. All rapid diagnostic tests were negative for HRP2 and pLDH antigens.DiscussionPlasmodium ovale malaria is currently a problem to diagnose in travellers, notably in French soldiers returning from the Ivory Coast. Early attempts at diagnosis are difficult due to the lack of specific clinical features, the rarity of biological changes and the poor sensitivity of diagnostic tools to detect low parasitaemia. Thus, the diagnosis is commonly delayed or missed. Physicians should be aware of this diagnostic challenge to avoid relapses and provide prompt and adequate treatment with chloroquine and radical cure with primaquine.

Dengue virus infection in travellers returning from Benin to France, July – August, 2010

In 2010, our laboratory confirmed a case of DENV-3 infection in a traveller returning from Benin [2]. Isolation of DENV-3 in both east and west Africa suggests that the serotype has emerged or re-emerged in various parts of Africa [3]. As indicated by Gautret et al., further studies are needed to understand the extent of DENV-3 outbreak in Africa, and to reinforce disease surveillance. Laboratory investigation of all suspected cases of DENV infection is conducted in Japan as a part of surveillance for imported cases of DENV infection. As of 19 September 2010, 163 imported cases of DENV infection have been reported, as required by the Japanese Infectious Diseases Control Law. All were confirmed by laboratory tests in the Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases or in local public health institutes. Due to the complexity of identifying DENV in the laboratory, virus isolation or a four-fold rise in acute and convalescent serum antibody titre is required for confirmatory diagnosis. In our laboratory, all suspected cases of DENV infection are tested for the virus using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), commercial anti-DENV IgM and IgG enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), virus isolation and nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) antigen ELISA. Our laboratory data and current data on evaluation of commercial kits for the detection of NS1 antigen by other investigators demonstrated that NS1 could be detected in patients with DENV infections up to 14 days after onset of symptoms [4]. It is probable that in combination with IgM and IgG assay results, as acknowledged by Gautret et al., NS1 antigen ELISA may increase the confidence of the diagnosis of DENV infection in travellers [1]. As discussed by Gautret et al., it is highly probable that the French travellers returning from Benin were infected with DENV-3. It is therefore important to examine if these patients develop high neutralizing antibody titres to DENV-3. Taken together, our findings and those of Gautret et al. suggest local DENV transmission in Benin. With the increase in the number of cases of DENV infection reported annually worldwide and the identification of local DENV infection in non-endemic areas, including France [5], more attention needs to be paid to identification of epidemics, disease management and enhanced surveillance of travellers returning from endemic areas.

Diversité génétique d’un génotype rare du virus de l’hépatite A

Purpose of the study Very few is known on genotype II hepatitis A virus (HAV) since it is rarely isolated. From 2002 to 2007, the French observatory of HAV identified six sub-genotype IIA strains of which one from a patient having travelled to West Africa. To investigate the possible African origin of sub-genotype IIA, we determined its prevalence among French travellers in 2008 and characterised its genetic variability. Patients and methods The 2008 mandatory notification records were screened for travel to Africa. Viral genotype was determined on the nucleotide sequencing of the VP1/2A junction region. The P1 region coding for capsid proteins was used to compare the genetic diversity of IIA isolates to those of other genotypes. Results In 2008, five out of 54 patients returning from West Africa were infected by IIA strains and an additional “autochthonous” case was identified. Two more African cases were identified in 2009. A total of 14 IIA isolates (eight African and six “autochthonous”) were analysed. Nucleotide and amino-acid variability of IIA sequences was lower than that of the other genotypes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the clustering of two “autochthonous” cases with African isolates whereas the other ones belonged to a different lineage. Conclusion Most IIA strains isolated in France are imported by travellers returning from West Africa. However, the unexplained contamination mode of some “autochthonous” cases suggests another geographical origin to discover or a French reservoir to explore.

Examining the effect of novelty seeking, satisfaction, and destination image on tourists’ return pattern: A two factor, non-linear latent growth model

With many destinations relying on repeat business, intention to revisit has become an important research topic. As revisit intention changes over time, this paper proposes the use of a latent growth curve to model the developmental trajectory of return behavior. The proposed model was tested in two steps in AMOS 16.0 using SEM methodologies to investigate the effects of novelty seeking, destination image and overall satisfaction levels across intent to revisit trajectories using data collected among French, English, and German travelers. Findings indicate that both novelty seeking and low satisfaction among travelers temper immediate intent to return. Conversely, a positive image of the destination enhances both immediate and future intentions to return.

A Portable World: The Notebooks of European Travellers (Eighteenth to Nineteenth Centuries)

For the past three decades, notebooks and note‐taking practices have elicited growing interest in various fields of research: anthropology, media and literature studies, history of the book, history of science. In this renewal, however, scientific travelers’ notes have not received all the attention they deserve. To be sure, historians of discovery and exploration are used to considering travel diaries and field notes as a principal resource, on the basis of which they can assess a traveler’s accomplishment or document his itinerary. From a different perspective, field journals offer rich material to literary scholars, critics, and specialists of travel writing. Notebooks of well‐known travelers like Bougainville or Humboldt are thus scrutinized in their poetic and aesthetic dimensions, from the perspective of the genesis of travel writing. Still, few studies have taken up the task, a rather mundane and down‐to‐earth endeavor, to look at travel notebooks for their own sake, as material objects, made of paper and cardboard, and meant to store observational data and to insure their availability through time and space. The paper sets out to do just that: to take a set of manuscript notebooks written by eighteenth‐ and early nineteenth‐century French, German, and Swiss naturalist travelers and scientists on the move together with the techniques at work in their writing, as the focus of a historical investigation.

Illness in French Travelers to Senegal: Prospective Cohort Follow‐up and Sentinel Surveillance Data

To investigate travel-associated illnesses in French travelers to Senegal. A prospective cohort follow-up was conducted in 358 travelers recruited at a pre-travel visit in Marseille and compared to data from ill travelers collected from the GeoSentinel data platform in two clinics in Marseille. In the cohort survey, 87% of travelers experienced health complaints during travel, which most frequently included arthropod bites (75%), diarrhea (46%), and sunburns (36%). Severe febrile illness cases, notably malaria and salmonella, were detected only through the surveillance system, not in the cohort follow-up. Food hygiene was inefficient in preventing diarrhea. Arthropod bites were more frequent in younger patients and in patients with pale phototypes. Sunburns were also more frequent in younger patients. Finally, we demonstrate that mild travel-related gastrointestinal symptoms and the lack of arthropod bites are significantly associated with poor observance of antimalarial prophylaxis. In this study, we suggest the complementary nature of using cohort surveys and sentinel surveillance data. Effective protection of skin from arthropod bites and sun exposure should result in significantly reduced travel-associated diseases in Senegal. Travelers to Senegal should be informed that diarrhea is extremely common despite preventive measures, but it is mild and transitory and should not lead to the disruption of malaria chemoprophylaxis.

AN ASSESSMENT OF FRANCOIS BERNIER’S TRAVEL ACCOUNT: A FRENCH COMMERCIAL INFORMER OR A CRITIC OF THE FRENCH STATE?

French commercial and, later, political expansion in South Asia from 1600 to 1800 has attracted the attention of many historians. French travellers played a significant part in exploring overseas markets and establishing commercial links between Europe and South Asia. However, there has been a lack of historical research, on assessment of commercial information regarding India and its converse impact on the French state, provided by Francois Bernier in his travellers accounts. Therefore this article made an attempt to make an assessment of Francois Bernier’s Travel account in relation to its commercial relevance. An attempt shall be made to present a true picture of Bernier’s contribution in analyzing Indian commercial prospects and his hidden warning to Louis XIV against politicizing his ambitious goals to expand his political control over the need for improvement of French commercial structures.

Cidade aberta, sem muralhas: a religião luso-brasileira na literatura de viagem (séculos XVIII-XIX)

A partir de finais do século XVIII e início do século XIX, um grande número de viajantes britânicos e franceses aportaram no Brasil, interessados em suas riquezas naturais e desejosos por conhecimento sobre a sociedade luso-brasileira. Um dos seus principais interesses era o conhecimento das práticas religiosas dos brasileiros que servia, tanto para católicos franceses quanto para protestantes britânicos, como um índice de civilidade alcançado por nossa sociedade. Suas descrições tratarão, assim, das igrejas, sua composição arquitetônica e obras sacras, das missas, procissões e festas religiosas, das obras de caridade, do clero católico, dos sacramentos como casamentos e batizados, enterros, etc. Nestas descrições estão colocadas interpretações da sociedade luso-brasileira, as possibilidades de desenvolvimento do novo Império brasileiro e o caráter do catolicismo português transplantado para a América.

French travellers to Greece and the representation of modern Greeks in the nineteenth century

The representation of modern Greeks by a number of nineteenth-century French travellers raises questions about the factors that influenced them in their accounts. If we accept that travel literature is a distinct kind of literary genre characterized by a range of forms and themes, we should also not ignore the influence of the travellers' social and cultural background on the images they produce. Their social status, gender, cultural and professional backgrounds, together with their personal motives for travel, determine the approach they adopt while observing 'others'. The accounts they produced of numerous aspects of modern Greek life and culture were almost inevitably subjective, often controversial, and reflected intellectual currents and Western preconceptions of that period.

Risque d’introduction et voies d’importation par l’homme de maladies infectieuses exotiques : cas particulier de l’émergence de bactéries pathogènes multirésistantes aux antibiotiques, importées en France à l’occasion de voyages internationaux ou du rapatriement de patients hospitalisés à l’étranger

RÉSUMÉLe développement et la rapidité des transports et des communications créent des opportunités pour la diffusion et l’implantation de maladies infectieuses. A côté d’évènements comme le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine (VIH), le syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère lié à un coronavirus (SRAS), le chikungunya, le virus de la grippe A H1N1v pandémique, il faut signaler le risque de diffusion de bactéries pathogènes résistantes aux antibiotiques. Le rapatriement de français en provenance de l’étranger, et la prise en charge sanitaire d’étrangers en France, expose la population française à des bactéries multirésistantes par une transmission interhumaine. La surveillance et le contrôle de la diffusion de pathogènes émergents multirésistants aux antibiotiques importés en France fait partie des priorités de sécurité sanitaire.