Jean de Thévenot

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Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot, from "Relation d'un voyage fait au Levant" (1664)
Born16 June 1633
Died28 November 1667
NationalityFrench
OccupationTraveller

Jean de Thévenot (16 June 1633 – 28 November 1667) was a French traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a

botanist
.

Education

He was born in

Collège de Navarre.[1] He was a nephew of Melchisédech Thévenot, with whom he is often confused.[2]

Early European travels (1652-1655)

Thévenot conceived a desire to travel from reading other travel writing, and his wealth allowed him to fulfill this desire. Leaving France in 1652, he first visited

D'Herbelot, who invited him to be his companion in a projected voyage to the Levant. D'Herbelot was detained by private affairs, but Thévenot sailed from Rome in May 1655, and, after vainly waiting five months at Malta, took passage for Constantinople alone.[1]

First travels to the Near and Middle East (1655-1663)

He remained in Constantinople until the following August, and then proceeded to Smyrna, the Greek islands, and finally to Egypt, landing at Alexandria on New Year's Day, 1657. He stayed for a year in Egypt, then visited Sinai, and, upon returning to Cairo, joined the Lent pilgrim caravan to Jerusalem. He visited the chief places of pilgrimage in Palestine, and, after being twice taken by corsairs, got back to Damietta by sea, and was again in Cairo in time to view the opening of the canal on the rise of the Nile (14 August 1658).[1]

In January 1659 he sailed from Alexandria in an English ship, visiting

Goletta and Tunis (Tunisia) on the way, and, after a sharp engagement with Spanish corsairs, one of which fell a prize to the English merchantman, reached Leghorn (Italy) on 12 April. He now spent four years at home in studies useful to a traveller.[1]

Further travels (1663-1667)

In November 1663 again sailed for the East, calling at Alexandria and landing at

Here he entered

Bander-Abbasi, in the hope of finding a passage to India. This was difficult, because of the opposition of the Dutch, and though Tavernier was able to proceed, Thévenot found it prudent to return to Shiraz. Having visited the ruins of Persepolis, he made his way to Basra and sailed for India on 6 November 1665, in the ship "Hopewell," arriving at the port of Surat on 10 January 1666.[1]

He was in

Isfahan, disabled by an accidental pistol-shot; and in October started for Tabriz, but died on the way at Mianeh on 28 November 1667.[1]

Linguistic skills and natural sciences

Thévenot was an accomplished

natural sciences, especially in botany, for which he made large collections in India.[1]

Travel writing

The account of his first journey was published at Paris in 1665, under the title Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant.

Achtiname of Muhammad, which claims that the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, had personally confirmed a grant of protection and other privileges to the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.[4]

The second and third parts of Thévenot's Voyages were posthumously published from his journals in 1674 and 1684 (all

folio, London, 1687).[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm 1911.
  2. .
  3. ^ Thévenot, Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant. Paris: L. Billaine, 1665.
  4. ^ Ratliff, "The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Christian communities of the Caliphate."

References

Primary sources