Pierre Poivre


Pierre Poivre was an 18th-century horticulturist and botanist. He was born in Lyon, France.
He was a missionary to East Asia, intendant of French colonial islands in the Indian Ocean, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel.

Career

In his early 20s Poivre was a missionary in Far Eastern locations that included Cochinchina, Guangzhou, and Portuguese Macau. In 1745 as a member of the French East India Company, while on a journey to the East Indies, he was struck by a cannonball on the wrist while being engaged in a naval battle with the British. The injury required the amputation of part of his right arm.
;Botanical garden
In the 1760s, Poivre became administrator intendant of Isle de France and Ile Bourbon in the West Indian Ocean. On northern Isle de France—Mauritius, he is renowned for the establishment of a new botanical garden, the present day Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, with specimens of trees, shrubs and plants imported from tropical habitats worldwide. He was succeeded as its director by botanist Jean-Nicolas Céré. Today on northern Mauritius, the SSR Botanical Garden−Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses still flourishes, and is now a garden containing tropical plants and trees from other islands in the Indian Ocean, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania.
;Spice trade
Poivre is also remembered for introducing spice plants to Mauritius and Reunion, such as clove and nutmeg, commodities which at the time were controlled by the Dutch, who had a virtual monopoly on them in the Dutch East Indies. In order to obtain the spices, Poivre arranged clandestine smuggling forays to obtain plants and seeds from the Dutch Spice Islands in 1769–1770. Poivre was also responsible for introducing spice plants to the Seychelles.

Publications

Family

Pierre Poivre married Françoise Robin on 5 September 1766 in Pommiers, Rhône. They had three children:
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He was an uncle to the renowned French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat.
;Honors
The Poivre Islands coral atoll is named in his honor. They are located in the Amirante Islands group of coral islands and atolls that belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles.
Pierre's surname means pepper in French, leading some authors to identify him as the subject of the Peter Piper rhyme.