Jeanne Baret facts
While investigating facts about Jeanne Baret, I found out little known, but curios details like:
In 1766–1769, Jeanne Baret was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. During most of the trip, she was disguised as a man.
Not wanting to leave Commerson under the care of someone other than herself, Jeanne Baret came up with the idea to disguise herself as a male assistant. Her plan worked, and her disguise must’ve been pretty good because she boarded the ship as a man named Jean Baret.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 7 of the best facts about Jeanne Baret I managed to collect.
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In April 1768, when the expedition reached Tahiti, Jeanne Baret true identity was finally revealed. One story goes that it was the native Tahitians who immediately figured out that she was a woman.
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Jeanne Baret was born in 1740 to a poor family in Burgundy, France. Her father was illiterate, which was nothing out of the norm for a peasant at that time.
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Philibert employed Jeanne has his housekeeper and personal nurse. Of course, we can’t know exactly when the two fell in love, but by 1764, it was pretty much a fact. The two moved to Paris, where Baret continued to take care of Commerson and the household duties.
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Commerson and Jeanne Baret were left there as Bougainville had respect for the two and didn’t want to go back to France with a woman on board his ship.
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The happy newlyweds then moved back to France, which finally completed Jeanne Baret’s circumnavigation of the globe. She was the first woman in history to complete such an expedition.
