Jean-Baptiste Labat
Encyclopedia
Jean-Baptiste Labat (1663, near Paris
- 6 January 1738, Paris) was a French
clergyman, botanist
, writer, explorer, ethnographer, soldier, engineer, and landowner.
at the age of twenty. He was ordained at the completion of his philosophical and theological studies. Besides preaching, he taught philosophy
and mathematics
to secular students at Nancy. Abandoning this work, he devoted himself to missionary activity and for many years preached in the various churches of France.
In 1693, determined to devote himself to foreign missionary work, he received permission from the general of his order to travel to the West Indies, then under French domination. On 29 January 1694, he landed in Martinique
. He was entrusted with the parish of Macouba (Macumba), where he labored for two years and added many new buildings, including the church.
In 1696 he travelled to Guadeloupe
, and was appointed procurator-general of all the Dominican convents in the Antilles
(Procureur syndic des îles d'Amérique) upon his return to Martinique.
The French government appointed him as an engineer due to his scientific knowledge. In this capacity, he visited the French, Dutch, and English Antilles from Grenada
to Hispaniola
. Labat encountered many aspects of Caribbean society, including slavery
. In his account for the year 1698, Labat included his impressions regarding the slaves of Martinique: "The dance is their favourite passion. I don't think that there is a people on the face of the earth who are more attached to it than they. When the Master will not allow them to dance on the Estate, they will travel three and four leagues, as soon as they knock off work at the sugar-works on Saturday, and betake themselves to some place where they know that there will be a dance."http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/vao/vao05.htm (Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l'Amérique, Vol. II)
Labat was no simple observer or opponent to slavery, however. As proprietor of the estate of Fonds-Saint-Jacques (in the north, alongside a river of the same name) and founder of the parish of François, both on Martinique, Labat applied himself to modernizing and developing the sugar industry on this island, and owned -and brutalized- his own slaves.http://www.esclavage-martinique.com/fr/acteurs.php#5 Fonds-Saint-Jacques was for a long time regarded as a model to be copied. On Martinique, Labat's memory has survived in the vocabulary: La Tour du père Labat ("windmill
"); les chaudières Père Labat (the Père Labat boilers"), or the standard of distillation
known as type Père Labat.http://www.la-martinique.net/Communicator/francais/marthis.htm
As engineer in Guadeloupe, he took an active part in its defense when the British
attacked the island in 1704. Labat fired several cannon
with his own hand. He was appointed Vice-Préfet Apostolique in the same year.
In 1706, Labat was sent to Europe as deputy of his order. He spent several years in Italy and attended a meeting of the order at Bologna
, and presenting to the general a report of his work. Labat prepared to return to America, but was denied permission and detained in Rome
for several years. He traveled to Paris in 1716. He lived in the convent on Rue Saint-Honore until his death. During these years, Labat commenced a long contemplated history of the West Indies. The work was finally published in six volumes at Paris, in 1722, with copious illustrations made by himself (Nouveau Voyage aux isles Françoises de l'Amérique, Paris
, 1722).
The genus of the tropical fruit tree family Sapotaceae Labatia, first described in 1788, was named after Labat. It was maintained as a distinct entity until the 1930s when it was submerged in the genus Pouteria
. In 1972, it was proposed that a new genus called Neolabatia be recognized, containing six species formerly known as Labatia, but this classification is disputed.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- 6 January 1738, Paris) was a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
clergyman, botanist
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, writer, explorer, ethnographer, soldier, engineer, and landowner.
Life
He entered the order of the DominicansDominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
at the age of twenty. He was ordained at the completion of his philosophical and theological studies. Besides preaching, he taught philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
to secular students at Nancy. Abandoning this work, he devoted himself to missionary activity and for many years preached in the various churches of France.
In 1693, determined to devote himself to foreign missionary work, he received permission from the general of his order to travel to the West Indies, then under French domination. On 29 January 1694, he landed in Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
. He was entrusted with the parish of Macouba (Macumba), where he labored for two years and added many new buildings, including the church.
In 1696 he travelled to Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, and was appointed procurator-general of all the Dominican convents in the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
(Procureur syndic des îles d'Amérique) upon his return to Martinique.
The French government appointed him as an engineer due to his scientific knowledge. In this capacity, he visited the French, Dutch, and English Antilles from Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
to Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
. Labat encountered many aspects of Caribbean society, including slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. In his account for the year 1698, Labat included his impressions regarding the slaves of Martinique: "The dance is their favourite passion. I don't think that there is a people on the face of the earth who are more attached to it than they. When the Master will not allow them to dance on the Estate, they will travel three and four leagues, as soon as they knock off work at the sugar-works on Saturday, and betake themselves to some place where they know that there will be a dance."http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/vao/vao05.htm (Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l'Amérique, Vol. II)
Labat was no simple observer or opponent to slavery, however. As proprietor of the estate of Fonds-Saint-Jacques (in the north, alongside a river of the same name) and founder of the parish of François, both on Martinique, Labat applied himself to modernizing and developing the sugar industry on this island, and owned -and brutalized- his own slaves.http://www.esclavage-martinique.com/fr/acteurs.php#5 Fonds-Saint-Jacques was for a long time regarded as a model to be copied. On Martinique, Labat's memory has survived in the vocabulary: La Tour du père Labat ("windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
"); les chaudières Père Labat (the Père Labat boilers"), or the standard of distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
known as type Père Labat.http://www.la-martinique.net/Communicator/francais/marthis.htm
As engineer in Guadeloupe, he took an active part in its defense when the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
attacked the island in 1704. Labat fired several cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
with his own hand. He was appointed Vice-Préfet Apostolique in the same year.
In 1706, Labat was sent to Europe as deputy of his order. He spent several years in Italy and attended a meeting of the order at Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, and presenting to the general a report of his work. Labat prepared to return to America, but was denied permission and detained in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for several years. He traveled to Paris in 1716. He lived in the convent on Rue Saint-Honore until his death. During these years, Labat commenced a long contemplated history of the West Indies. The work was finally published in six volumes at Paris, in 1722, with copious illustrations made by himself (Nouveau Voyage aux isles Françoises de l'Amérique, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1722).
Legacy
- On Martinique, Labat devised new methods for the manufacture of sugarSugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, which remained in use for a long time. - Labat had a wide reputation as a mathematician and won recognition both as a naturalist and as a scientist. He assisted the botanist Charles PlumierCharles PlumierCharles Plumier was a French botanist, after whom the Frangipani genus Plumeria is named. Plumier is considered one of the most important of the botanical explorers of his time...
in his work, while Plumier was in the West Indies. He embodied in the history his scientific observations and treated comprehensively and accurately of the soil, trees, plants, fruits, and herbs of the islands. He also explained the manufactures then in existence and pointed out means for the development of commercial relations. - His books that deal with AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, "best-sellers" during their time, are Nouveau voyage aux iles de l'Amerique (6 vols., Paris, 1722; 2d ed., 8 vols., 1742; Dutch translation, 4 vols., Amsterdam, 1725; German, 6 vols., Nuremberg, 1783-'7); and Voyage du Chevalier Demarchais en Guinee, iles voisines, et a Cayenne, fait en 1725, 1726, et 1727 (4 vols., Paris, 1730). - He published similar works on other countries, drawing information from the notes of other missionaries. His two works on AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
have become well known: Nouvelle relation de l'Afrique occidentale (Paris, 1728) and Relation historique de l'Ethiopie occidentale (Congo, Angola, Matamba, after the Italian of Father Cavazzi, Cap. (ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1732).
The genus of the tropical fruit tree family Sapotaceae Labatia, first described in 1788, was named after Labat. It was maintained as a distinct entity until the 1930s when it was submerged in the genus Pouteria
Pouteria
Pouteria is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the Canistel , the Mamey Sapote and the Lúcuma...
. In 1972, it was proposed that a new genus called Neolabatia be recognized, containing six species formerly known as Labatia, but this classification is disputed.