Jean Laborde (16 October 1805 in

Auch Auch (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in southwestern France. Located in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers Departments of France, department. Geography Localiza ...

– 27 December 1878 in Mantasoa,

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

) was an adventurer and early

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

. He became the chief

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

of the

Merina The Merina people (also known as the Imerina, Antimerina, Borizany or Ambaniandro) formerly called Amboalambo are the largest ethnic group in Madagascar.

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

, supervising the creation of a modern manufacturing center under Queen

Ranavalona I Ranavalona I (born Rabodoandrianampoinimerina; 1778–16 August 1861), also known as Ramavo or Ranavalo-Manjaka I or Ranavalona reniny, was the sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861. After positioning herself as queen fol ...

. Later he became the first French consul to Madagascar, when the government of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

used him to establish French influence on the island. Born to a blacksmith, Laborde emigrated to India, before attempting to recover treasure from ships wrecked along the coast of Madagascar in 1831. After becoming shipwrecked himself, Laborde made his way to Antananarivo where he manufactured muskets and gunpowder for the queen in a factory located in Ilafy. Laborde then organized 20,000 forced labourers to build an industrial complex in Mantasoa, closer to water, wood, and iron ore. There, 1,200 workmen produced cannon, swords, bricks, tiles, pottery, glass, porcelain, silk, soap, candles, sealing-wax, lime, cement, charcoal, ink, dyes, sugar, rum, sulfuric acid, and lightning conductors. Laborde also constructed Rainiharo's tomb, and the Queen's Palace. Laborde got involved in the 1857 coup instigated by Joseph-François Lambert and was banned by the queen. After the queen was succeeded by Radama II, he was able to return in 1861. Napoleon III named him as the first French consul to the Merina court. The French government became involved in a dispute with the Malagasy over the inheritance of Laborde's property after his death in 1878, some of which was a gift from Queen

. These and other French claims formed the pretext for France's later armed intervention. A

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Madagascar, '' Furcifer labordi'', is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Laborde", p. 149).

References

External links

Biography (in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laborde, Jean 1805 births 1878 deaths 19th-century French diplomats Expatriates in Madagascar French expatriates in India