Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville
French admiral and explorer Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (1729 – 1811), a contemporary of James Cook, took part in the Seven Years' War in North America and the American Revolutionary War. However, his fame stems from expeditions, including the first recorded settlement on the Falkland Islands and voyages into the Pacific Ocean.
In La Boudeuse and L'Etoile, he accomplished the first French circumnavigation of the world (1766-69), visiting Tahiti a year after Samuel Wallis and confirming the island's reputation as an earthly paradise. His account of the voyage — Voyage atour du Monde — was widely read. He subsequently returned to his military career in the American War of Independence. He then devoted much of the rest of his life to scientific pursuits. The largest of the Solomon Islands and the multi-coloured climbing vine bougainvillaea are named after him.
