Amédée-François Frézier
Amédée-François Frézier | |
---|---|
Born | 1682 Chambéry, Savoy, France |
Died | October 26, 1773 Brest, Brittany, France |
Occupation(s) | Engineer, mathematician, spy, explorer |
Parent | Pierre-Louis Frézier |
Amédée-François Frézier (French: [amede fʁɑ̃swa fʁezje]1682 – October 26, 1773) was a French military engineer, mathematician, spy, and explorer who is best remembered for bringing back five specimens of Fragaria chiloensis, the beach strawberry, from an assignment in South America, thus introducing this New World fruit to the Old. The standard author abbreviation Frez. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[1]
Family history
As described by G.M. Darrow, Frézier's ancient surname was derived from fraise, the French word for strawberry.[2] A story relates the surname is derived from the fact that Julius de Berry, a citizen of Anvers (i.e. Antwerp), was knighted by Charles the Simple in 916 for a timely gift of ripe strawberries.[3] The Emperor gave the Fraise family (the surname was corrupted as "Frazer") three "fraises" or stalked strawberries for their coat of arms.
Members of the Frazer family emigrated to
Édouard Frazer returned to France from Edinburgh around 1500 to escape Scottish political troubles, taking refuge in Amsterdam. The son of Édouard was Charles-Simon, who settled in France. Charles-Simon's descendants later settled in Savoy.
Youth and education
Amédée-François Frézier was born in
Treatise on Fireworks
Frézier's post gave him enough leisure time to publish his Traité des feux d'artifice pour le spectacle (1706, revised 1747) (Treatise on Fireworks). In this treatise, Frézier studied the recreational and ceremonial uses of fireworks – and pyrotechnics in general, rather than their military uses. Frézier surveyed earlier works on the subject. As Frézier included also instructions for the manufacture of decorative fireworks, the book became a standard text for fireworks makers.
Frezier's Treatise on Fireworks earned its author a transfer to the
Work in South America
Frézier's superior officers, impressed by his competence, recommended that Frézier be the one to receive the assignment of studying the defense fortifications of Chile and Peru.
Frézier was a lieutenant-colonel of the French Army Intelligence Corps when on January 7, 1712, he was dispatched to South America, four months after the return from the same continent of Louis Feuillée. The goal of Frezier's reconnaissance mission seems to have included making hydrographical observations, correcting existing charts, and taking exact plans of the most important ports and fortresses along the coasts. Frézier ended up disagreeing with Feuillée in regards to the latter's measurement of the latitudes and longitudes of the South American coast and of the principal ports of Chile and Peru. Frézier actually pointed out several mistakes in Feuillée's Relation, which led to a bitter feud between the two travelers.
Sailing aboard the St. Joseph, an armed merchant ship, for about five months, he arrived in Concepción, Chile, on June 16, 1712, after rounding Cape Horn.
Passing himself off as a trader or merchant captain, he could visit the fortifications as a
Relation du voyage de la Mer du Sud
All of this was valuable information, which was immediately translated into other major European languages after its first appearance in French as Relation du voyage de la mer du Sud, aux côtes du Chili, du Pérou et de Brésil, fait pendant les années 1712, 1713, et 1714. Frézier's account of his travels in South America was published in Paris in 1716
Additional works included his Réponse au P. Feuillée, which was added to the Paris edition of 1832. Frézier also published a Lettre concernant l'histoire des tremblements de terre de Lima ("Letter concerning the history of earthquakes in Lima") (1755).
Awards and return to the New World
Frézier left Concepción on February 19, 1714, and reached
In 1719, Frézier returned to the New World as Engineer-in-Chief to Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) on a two-year assignment to fortify the island. He made a map of the island, and also a plan of the City of Santo Domingo. He suffered from malaria there, but was only allowed to return to Europe in 1728.
On his return, he received the cross of St. Louis. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1752.
Work in Europe
Upon his return to Europe, Frézier was sent to Philippsburg and then to Landau, where he built twenty-six defense structures.
Frézier wrote a work that applied the theories of architecture to practical engineering, called La Théorie et la Pratique de la Coupe des Pierres et des Bois pour la Construction des Voûtes et autre Parties des Bâtimens Civils & Militaires, ou Traité de Stéréotomie à l'Usage de l'Architecture (Doulsseker; Paris: L.H. Guerin, 1737-38-39) (The theory and practice of cutting stones and wood for the construction of vaults and other parts of civil and military buildings, or treatise on
He also married, and was commissioned as a captain. In 1739, he was named Director of Fortifications for the whole of Brittany.
In 1764, he retired from service, but still maintained an interest in various subjects, including
He died in Brest.
See also
References
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Frez.
- ^ "Chapter 4: The Strawberry From Chile". www.nal.usda.gov. Archived from the original on 1999-11-09.
- ^ [1] Archived 2009-02-13 at the Wayback Machine, pg.27-28
- ^ Sabin, Joseph (1875). A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from Its Discovery to the Present Time: Franklin to Hall. Vol. 7. New York: J. Sabin & Sons. p. 65. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- ^ "Frézier, Amédée François 1682-1773". WorldCat. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- ISBN 9781107600492. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
External links
- Digitized copy of the German translation of "Relation du voyage de la mer du Sud aux côtes du Chili, du Pérou, et du Brésil" (Hamburg: 1718) via John Carter Brown Library on Internet Archive
- G.M. Darrow, The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology Archived 2009-02-13 at the Wayback Machine (in English)
- History of the Strawberry (in English)
- "Amédée François Frézier discovered the Chilean strawberry" (in English)
Gallery
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Hispaniola (1724)
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Strait of Magellan, Chile (1717)
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Baía de Todos os Santos, Brazil (1717)
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Concepción, Chile (1717)
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Copiapó, Chile (1717)
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Coquimbo, Chile (1717)
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Le Maire Strait (1717)
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Ilo, Peru (1717)
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Valparaíso, Chile (1717)
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Pisco, Peru (1717)
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St. Vincent, Cape Verde (1717)
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Callao, Peru (1717)
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Frontispiece of A voyage to the South-sea.. (1717)
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São Salvador de Bahia de Todos os Santos, Brazil (1717)
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Title Page of A voyage to the South sea... (1717)
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Valparaíso, Chile (1717)
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Arica, Chile (1717)
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Callao, Peru (1717)
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La Serena, Chile (1717)