La Recherche Expedition (1838–1840)
Encyclopedia
The La Recherche Expedition of 1838-1840 was a French
Admiralty
expedition whose destination was the North Atlantic and Scandinavian islands, including the Faroe Islands
, Spitsbergen
and Iceland
.
The expedition in the Scandinavian countries from 1838 to 1840, was a direct continuation of shipments in 1835 and 1836. A letter dated March 22, 1837 revealed that P. Gaimard, and Marmier were preparing a trip to Copenhagen and Christiania (Norway) whose purpose was to gather additional information on Iceland and Greenland.
On June 13, 1838, the French corvette La Recherche left Le Havre in France, bound for Northern Scandinavia. Joseph Paul Gaimard
(1796-1858), a physician and zoologist was the commanding officer of the expedition. The expedition was on a purely scientific nature, rather than a colonial venture in cooperation with the governments of Norway
and Sweden
. Gaimard invited the Sami
minister and botanist Lars Levi Læstadius
on the voyage for his knowledge in botany and Sami culture.
The company was given an international dimension. Gaimard had hired many renowned European scholars. The Arctic exploration in the 1870s marked a watershed in the history of international scientific cooperation. The first evidence of this cooperation was, in 1882, the International Polar Year.
The scientific results from the second "La Recherche Expedition" were published in "Atlas Pittoresque" in the period 1842-55 with the title: "Voyages de la Commission scientifique de Nord: en Scandinavie en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feroe, pendant les années 1838, 1839 et 1849, sur la corvette La RECHERCHE." (The Scientific Committee's Expedition to the North; in Scandinavia,Lapland, Spitsbergen and the Faroe Islands in the years 1838, 1839 and 1849 on-board the corvette La RECHERCHE').
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
expedition whose destination was the North Atlantic and Scandinavian islands, including the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
, Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
.
The expedition in the Scandinavian countries from 1838 to 1840, was a direct continuation of shipments in 1835 and 1836. A letter dated March 22, 1837 revealed that P. Gaimard, and Marmier were preparing a trip to Copenhagen and Christiania (Norway) whose purpose was to gather additional information on Iceland and Greenland.
On June 13, 1838, the French corvette La Recherche left Le Havre in France, bound for Northern Scandinavia. Joseph Paul Gaimard
Joseph Paul Gaimard
Joseph Paul Gaimard was a French naval surgeon and naturalist.Along with Jean René Constant Quoy he served as naturalist on the ships L'Uranie under Louis de Freycinet 1817-1820, and L'Astrolabe under Jules Dumont d'Urville 1826-1829...
(1796-1858), a physician and zoologist was the commanding officer of the expedition. The expedition was on a purely scientific nature, rather than a colonial venture in cooperation with the governments of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Gaimard invited the Sami
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
minister and botanist Lars Levi Læstadius
Lars Levi Læstadius
Lars Levi Læstadius was a Swedish Lutheran pastor of partly Sami ancestry. From the mid 1840s and onward he became the leader of the Laestadian movement...
on the voyage for his knowledge in botany and Sami culture.
The company was given an international dimension. Gaimard had hired many renowned European scholars. The Arctic exploration in the 1870s marked a watershed in the history of international scientific cooperation. The first evidence of this cooperation was, in 1882, the International Polar Year.
The scientific results from the second "La Recherche Expedition" were published in "Atlas Pittoresque" in the period 1842-55 with the title: "Voyages de la Commission scientifique de Nord: en Scandinavie en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feroe, pendant les années 1838, 1839 et 1849, sur la corvette La RECHERCHE." (The Scientific Committee's Expedition to the North; in Scandinavia,Lapland, Spitsbergen and the Faroe Islands in the years 1838, 1839 and 1849 on-board the corvette La RECHERCHE').