Everything about Bertrand-fran Ois Mah De La Bourdonnais totally explained
Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais (
comte de La Bourdonnais) (
Saint-Malo,
11 February 1699 –
Paris,
10 November 1753) was a
French naval officer and administrator, in the service of the
French East India Company.
Biography
La Bourdonnais was born on
February 11 1699 in
Saint-Malo,
Brittany. He went to sea when a boy, and in
1718 entered the service of the French East India Company as a lieutenant. In
1724 he was promoted captain, and displayed such bravery in the capture of
Mahé off the
Malabar Coast that the name of the town was added to his own. For two years he was in the service of the
Portuguese Viceroy of
Goa, but in
1735 he returned to French service as governor of the Île de France (
Mauritius) and the Île de Bourbon (
Réunion). His first five years' administration of the islands was vigorous and successful. A visit to France in
1740 was interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities with
Great Britain, and La Bourdonnais was put at the head of a fleet in Indian waters.
He saved Mahé, relieved General
Dupleix at
Pondicherry, defeated
Lord Peyton (d.
1749), and in
1746 participated in the
siege of
Madras. He quarrelled with Dupleix over the conduct of affairs in
India, and his anger was increased on his return to the Île de France, when he found that Dupleix had appointed a successor as governor. He set sail on a
Dutch vessel to present his case at court, and was captured by the British, but allowed to return to France on parole. Instead of securing a settlement of his quarrel with Dupleix, he was arrested (
1748) on a charge of gubernatorial
speculation and maladministration, and secretly imprisoned for over two years in the
Bastille. He was tried in
1751 and acquitted, but his health was broken by the imprisonment and by chagrin at the loss of his property. To the last he made unjust accusations against Dupleix. He died at Paris on
November 10 1753. The French government gave his widow a pension of 2400 livres.
Several places were named after him, including
Mahé (Seychelles),
Mahé (
Pondicherry,
India),
Mahébourg (
Mauritius) and a street in
Pondichéry.
Port Louis,
Mauritius has a hotel which bears his name, the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel.
La Bourdonnais left memoirs which were published by his grandson, a celebrated
chess player, Count
L.-C. Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1795–1840).
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