Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, writer and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of nearly 20 years (1875–1894). In 1892 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society for this work, despite having been banished from France because of his political activism.

Biography

Early life and education

Reclus was born at

Sainte-Foy-la-Grande Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (; ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is on the south bank of the Dordogne. History The town was founded in 1076, near a priory where Sainte Foy was worshipped. The t ...

(

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

) on March 15, 1830. His family were part of the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

minority in France. His father, Jacques Reclus, was a Protestant pastor in Montcaret and taught at Sainte-Foy's Protestant college; Reclus' godfather was the Protestant pastor Jacques Drillholle. Reclus' mother, Marguerite Zéline Trigant, was a teacher and founded a school at Orthez. Reclus spent his early years at the home of his maternal grandparents in Laroche, until he rejoined his family in 1838 at Castétarbe. Reclus was the second son in a family of fourteen children. His brothers were Onésime,

Élie Élie is the French equivalent of "Elie (given name), Elie", "Elias" or "Elijah."''The Complete Baby Name Book'' 1989 Page 92 "It was revived in the seventeenth century by the Puritans, and is still used, especially by religious Protestant familie ...

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, and Armand - who went on to be men of letters, politicians or members of the learned professions. Reclus began his education in Rhenish Prussia, and continued higher studies at the Protestant college of

Montauban Montauban (, ; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, and the sixth most populated of Oc ...

, after he had studied for a baccalaureate at Sainte-Foy. While studying at Sainte-Foy, Reclus and his brother lived with their aunt. Reclus felt dissatisfied with his studies at Montauban, moving four kilometers away to study independently in a house with his brothers and their friend Édouard Grimard. In 1849, without authorisation to take leave from the school, Élisée, Élie and Edouard journeyed on foot from Montauban to the Mediterranean Sea; shortly after this episode, the Reclus brothers were expelled from the school, in part because of their political views. Reclus moved to Berlin in 1851 and completed his studies at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, where he followed a long course of geography under

Carl Ritter Carl Ritter (August 7, 1779September 28, 1859) was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography, as they established it as an independent scientific discipline. From 1825 until ...

and also studied political economy and the history of diseases.

Adult life and career

Withdrawing from France due to the political events of December 1851, he spent the next six years (1852–1857) traveling and working in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Arriving in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in 1853, Reclus worked for about two and a half years as a tutor to the children of cousin Septime and Félicité Fortier at their plantation Félicité, located about upriver from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. He recounted his passage through the Mississippi River Delta and impressions of antebellum New Orleans and the state in ''Fragment d'un voyage à la Nouvelle-Orléans'', published in 1855. On 11 March 1858, he was initiated in the regular

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a List of Masonic rites, rite within the broader context of Freemasonry. It is the most widely practiced List of Masonic rites, Rite in the world. In some parts of the world, and in the ...

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

''Les Émules d'Hiram'', affiliated to the Grand Orient of France. His brother was just initiated and took part in his masonic baptism. He remained at the initial degrees of the Masonic spiritual path. On his return to Paris, Reclus contributed to the '' Revue des deux mondes'', the ''Tour du monde'' and other periodicals, a large number of articles embodying the results of his geographical work. Among other works of this period was the short book ''Histoire d'un ruisseau'', in which he traced the development of a great river from source to mouth. During 1867 and 1868, he published ''La Terre; description des phénomènes de la vie du globe'' in two volumes. During the

Siege of Paris (1870–1871) The siege of Paris took place from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871 and ended in the capture of the city by forces of the various states of the North German Confederation, led by the Kingdom of Prussia. The siege was the culmination of the F ...

, Reclus shared in the

aerostat An aerostat (, via French) or lighter-than-air aircraft is an aircraft that relies on buoyancy to maintain flight. Aerostats include unpowered balloons (free-flying or tethered) and powered airships. The relative density of an aerostat as a ...

ic operations conducted by

Félix Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar () or Félix Nadar'','' was a French people, French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Hi ...

, and also served in the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

. As a member of the Association Nationale des Travailleurs, he published a hostile manifesto against the government of Versailles in support of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

of 1871 in the '' Cri du Peuple''. Continuing to serve in the National Guard, which was then in open revolt, Reclus was taken prisoner on 5 April into Fort Quélern. On 16 November he was sentenced to deportation for life. Because of intervention by supporters from England, the sentence was commuted in January 1872 to perpetual banishment from France. After a short visit to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, Reclus settled at Clarens, Switzerland, where he resumed his literary labours and produced ''Histoire d'une montagne'', a companion to ''Histoire d'un ruisseau''. There he wrote nearly the whole of his work, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'', "an examination of every continent and country in terms of the effects that geographic features like rivers and mountains had on human populations—and vice versa." Sale, Kirkpatrick (1 July 2010
"Are Anarchists Revolting?"
, ''

The American Conservative ''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a bimonthly magazine published by the American Ideas Institute. The magazine was founded in 2002 by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos to advance an anti- neoconservative perspect ...

'', 1 July 2010 This compilation was profusely illustrated with maps, plans, and engravings. It was awarded the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1892. An English edition was published simultaneously, also in 19 volumes, the first four translated by E. G. Ravenstein, the rest by A. H. Keane. Reclus's writings were accurate and explained topics clearly, making them useful literary and scientific sources. According to

Kirkpatrick Sale Kirkpatrick Sale (born June 27, 1937) is an American author who has written prolifically about political decentralism, environmentalism, luddism and technology. He has been described as having a "philosophy unified by decentralism" and as bei ...

: In 1882, Reclus initiated the Anti-Marriage Movement. In accordance with these beliefs and the practice of ''union libre'' ("free unions"), which was common among working-class French in the mid-to-late 1800s, Reclus allowed his two daughters to "marry" their male partners without any civil or religious ceremonies, an action causing embarrassment to many of his well-wishers. Reclus had himself entered a free union in 1872, after the death of his first wife. In 1882 he also wrote ''Unions Libres'', a pamphlet which detailed his anarchist and feminist objections to marriage. The French government initiated prosecution from the High Court of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, arrested him and

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

as the International Association's organizers, and sentenced the latter to five years' imprisonment. Reclus escaped punishment as he remained in Switzerland.Ingeborg Landuyt and Geert Lernout, "Joyce's Sources: Les Grands Fleuves Historiques"
originally published in ''Joyce Studies,'' Annual 6 (1995): 99–138 In a 1913 piece, Kropotkin, in admiration of Reclus, said that if anyone asked about the conflicts of the Middle East, that "I should merely open the volume of Elisée Reclus's ''Geographie Universelle L'Asie, Russe''..." In 1890, Reclus hosted

Luigi Galleani Luigi Galleani (; 12 August 1861 – 4 November 1931) was an Italian insurrectionary anarchism, insurrectionary anarchist and Communism, communist best known for his advocacy of "propaganda of the deed", a strategy of political assassinations ...

at Lake Geneva in Switzerland, in the Reclus brothers' country house which at that time operated as a safe haven for dissidents fleeing persecution. Reclus offered Galleani a role in writing his ''Universal Geography'', with Galleani going on to contribute to statistics about Guatemala to volume XVII which addressed Central America. Reclus later assisted Galleani, and coordinated support for him, in fleeing Italy to Egypt when he faced persecution from the Italian state. In 1894, Reclus was appointed chair of comparative geography at the Free University of Brussels, and moved with his family to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. His brother Élie Reclus was at the university already, teaching religion. Élisée Reclus continued to write, contributing several important articles and essays to French, German and English scientific journals. He was awarded the 1894

Patron's Medal The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...

of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. In 1905, shortly before his death, Reclus completed ''L'Homme et la terre'', in which he rounded out his previous works by considering humanity's development relative to its geographical environment.

Death

Reclus died on July 4, 1905. He spent his final days in the countryside at

Thourout Torhout (; ; ) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Torhout proper, the villages of Wijnendale and Sint-Henricus, and the hamlet of De Driekoningen. On 29 February 2 ...

, to the west of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, staying with his friend Florence de Brouckère. Before he died, he completed the preface of the Russian edition of ''L'Homme et la Terre''. His brother

, his sister Louise Dumesnil, and his nephew

were with him in his last moments. His daughter read him the news of the sailors' revolt on the ''Potemkin'', and he smiled before dying peacefully. Reclus was buried at a cemetery in

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

with his brother Élie, who had died in February 1904. Per Reclus' request, there was no funeral procession. Kropotkin wrote an obituary for Reclus, which was published in ''The Geographic Journal'' in September, 1905. Kropotkin summarised: Following Reclus' death, his sister Louise was responsible for his personal archive of correspondence, family documents, and publications, and his nephew Paul saw to the publication of his posthumous works.

Naturism

Reclus had strong views on

naturism Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

and the benefits of

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not ...

. He argued that living naked was more hygienic than wearing clothes; he believed that it was healthier for skin to be fully exposed to light and air so that it could resume its "natural vitality and activity" and become more flexible and firm at the same time. He also argued that from an aesthetic point of view, nudity was better: naked people were more beautiful. His principal objection to clothing was, however, a moral one; he felt that a fixation with clothing caused excessive focus on what was covered.

Personal life

Reclus was a friend of Italian anarchist

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...

. Without first being engaged and against the advice of his parents, Reclus married Marguerite Claire, known as Clarisse Brian (1832-1869) in a ceremony at Sainte-Foy-La-Grande on December 13, 1858. Clarisse's father was a French sea captain and her mother was a Senegalese woman. Clarisse and Élisée had two daughters together. Élisée and Clarisse's first daughter, Marguerite (called Magali), was born on June 12, 1860 at 10 rue Bénard in Paris' 17th arrondissement. The birth was witnessed by Élie Reclus and Édouard Grimard. Their second daughter, Jeanne (called Jeannie) was born on the 1st of March, 1863 at 7 rue de la Plaine in Paris' 17th arrondissement. The birth was witnessed by Gustave Hickel and Élie Reclus. Élisée insisted against baptising his daughters.

Legacy

Reclus was admired by many 19th century thinkers, including

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

George Perkins Marsh George Perkins Marsh (March 15, 1801July 23, 1882), an American diplomat and philologist, is considered by some to be America's first environmentalist and by recognizing the irreversible impact of man's actions on the earth, a precursor to the s ...

Patrick Geddes Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban plannin ...

Henry Stephens Salt Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt (; 20 September 1851 – 19 April 1939) was a British writer and social reformer. He campaigned for social reform in the fields of prisons, schools, economic institutions, and the treatment of animals. He was a n ...

, and

Octave Mirbeau Octave Henri Marie Mirbeau (; 16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still app ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

was influenced by Léon Metchnikoff's book ''La civilisation et les grands fleuves historiques'', to which Reclus contributed a foreword. Reclus advocated for

nature conservation Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values ...

and opposed meat-eating and cruelty to animals. He was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. Reclus opposed the domestication of animals for food as a "great evil", writing that "domestication of animals exhibits in many ways moral regression since, far from im- proving animals, we have deformed and corrupted them".Reclus, E. (1896). The extended family. Anarchy, geography, modernity: Selected writings of Élisée Reclus , 137. Reclus connected humankind's relationship with the natural world to property rights, the family household, and mutual aid. His ideas are seen by some historians and writers as anticipating the modern

social ecology Social ecology may refer to: * Social ecology (academic field), the study of relationships between people and their environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and institutions * Social ecological model, frameworks for depicting ...

and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

movements. The high school in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande is named for him.

Selected works

Books

''L'Homme et la terre'' (''The Earth and Its Inhabitants''), 6 volumes:
''L'Homme et la terre''
(1905), e-text online, Internet Archive * *
v.5
Russia in Europe, etc.
Index
*
v.6
Asiatic Russia
Index
* * ** Europe
v.1v.2v.3v.4v.5
** North America
v.1v.2v.3
** Africa
v.1v.2v.3v.4

''The earth and its inhabitants. The universal geography,'' ed. by E.G. Ravenstein (A.H. Keane). (J.S. Virtue, 1878)

''The earth and its inhabitants, Asia, Volume 1'' (D. Appleton and Company, 1891)

''The Earth and Its Inhabitants ...: Asiatic Russia: Caucasia, Aralo-Caspian basin, Siberia'' (D. Appleton and Company, 1891)

''The Earth and Its Inhabitants ...: South-western Asia'' (D. Appleton and Company, 1891)

Anthology

* ''Du sentiment de la nature dans les sociétés modernes'' et autres textes, Éditions Premières Pierres, 2002 –

Articles

* ''The Progress of Mankind'' (''Contemporary Review'', 1896) * ''Attila de Gerando'' (''Revue Géographie'', 1898) * ''A Great Globe'' (''Geograph. Journal'', 1898) * ''L'Extrême-Orient'' (''Bulletin de la Société royale de géographie d'Anvers,'' 1898), a study of the political geography of the Far East and its possible changes * A report made for Parisian newspapers about the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...

, sympathetic towards the Paraguayan side. * ''La Perse'' (''Bulletin de la Société neuchâteloise'', 1899) * ''La Phénicie et les Phéniciens'' (ibid., 1900) * ''La Chine et la diplomatie européenne'' (''L'Humanité nouvelle'' series, 1900) * ''L'Enseignement de la géographie'' (''Institut de géographie de Bruxelles'', No 5, 1901)
''On Vegetarianism''
(''Humane Review'', 1901)

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Élisée Reclus
Research on Anarchism * *

Reed College * ttp://antwerpjamesjoycecenter.com/fleuve.html Ingeborg Landuyt and Geert Lernout, "Joyce's Sources: Les Grands Fleuves Historiques" originally published in ''Joyce Studies,'' Annual 6 (1995): 99-138.
Élisée Reclus, "An Anarchist on Anarchy"
(1884) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reclus, Elisee 1830 births 1905 deaths 19th-century French geographers 19th-century Protestants Anarcho-communists Anarchists without adjectives Christian anarchists Christian communists Communards Free love advocates French anarchists French animal rights activists French anti-capitalists French communists French male writers French naturists French non-fiction writers French Protestants French socialists French vegetarianism activists Green anarchists Human geographers French male non-fiction writers Members of the Société Ramond People from Gironde Elisee