Sabin Berthelot (4 April 1794 – 10 November 1880) was a French

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and ethnologist. He was a resident of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

for part of his life, and co-authored ''L'Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries'' (1835–50) with Philip Barker Webb.

Biography

Berthelot was the son of a

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

merchant. He joined the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

and served as a midshipman during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. After the war he joined the merchant fleet, travelling between Marseilles and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. He first visited the Canary Islands in 1820, where he taught at a school in

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

and managed the botanical gardens at Orotava for the Marquis of Villanueva del Prato. Berthelot studied the natural history of the islands. He was joined in this task by Webb in 1828, and by 1830 they had collected sufficient information for publication. They travelled to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, and produced the first volume of ''L'Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries'' in 1835. Berthelot concentrated on the ethnography, history and geography of the islands, with Webb completing the natural history sections. The ornithological section was mainly written by Alfred Moquin-Tandon. In 1845 Berthelot founded the Société d'Ethnologique. In 1846 he returned to Tenerife, and in 1848 was nominated the French consular agent for the island, being promoted to full Consul in 1874. He retired in August 1874, and was given the freedom of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Berthelot's other publications on the islands included ''Les Guanches'' (1841 and 1845), ''La Conquète des canaries'' (1879) and ''Antiquités Canariennes'' (1879).

Legacy

The Berthelot's pipit (''Anthus berthelotii'') was named after him Web Tenerife website, ''Le pipit de Berthelot''
/ref> by his friend Carl Bolle.

References

Bibliography

* * ''Biographies for Birdwatchers'' - Barbara and Richard Mearns

External links

Gallica
Digitised ''L'Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries'' (1835–50) 1794 births 1880 deaths French expatriates in Spain 19th-century French naturalists Scientists from Marseille Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina {{France-scientist-stub