author
Jean Godin des Odonais
1712–1792
Part of the first French geodesic mission to the equator, this cartographer and naturalist spent years in South America studying the land, its plants, and local languages. His life is also remembered for the extraordinary long separation from his wife, Isabel, which later became the subject of books and retellings.
1 Audiobook
Perils and Captivity Comprising The sufferings of the Picard family after the shipwreck of the Medusa, in the year 1816; Narrative of the captivity of M. de Brisson, in the year 1785; Voyage of Madame Godin along the river of the Amazons, in the year 1770.
by Charlotte-Adelaïde Dard, Pierre-Raymond de Brisson, Jean Godin des Odonais
About the author
Jean Godin des Odonais was a French cartographer and naturalist associated with the pioneering French expedition sent to measure the Earth at the equator in the 1730s. Sources found here describe him as working in the Quito region after the expedition, where he taught astronomy and natural science and studied both Ecuadorian flora and Indigenous languages.
He is closely linked to one of the most dramatic true stories of eighteenth-century South America. During his years in the region, he married Isabel Gramesón y Pardo, later known as Isabel Godin des Odonais. The couple were separated for many years, and their eventual reunion after Isabel's dangerous journey across the Amazon made their story famous far beyond their own time.
The dates in the material located during this search are not perfectly consistent: some sources list him as born in 1713, while library records connected with his travel narrative use 1712. He died in 1792. Because no suitable verified portrait image could be confirmed from the pages reviewed, no profile image is included here.