Reclus family

   family of French geographers, scientists, political theorists, and anarchists

   Élie Reclus (1827-1904) was born in Saint-Foy-la-Grande, and was banished in 1851 and again in 1871 for his political beliefs. He wrote an important ethnographic work, Les Primatifs, Études d'ethnographie comparée (1885). Elisée Reclus (1830-1905), the brother of Élie Reclus, was born in Saint-Foy-la-Grande, and was also banished because of his opposition to the coup d'état of December 2, 1851. He traveled through Europe and America and, on his return (1857), began his geographic writings, contributing to the Guides Joanne and publishing La Terre, description des phénomènes de la vie du globe (1867-68). Affiliated with the socialist First International, he took part in the publication of Cri du peuple (1869). In 1871, he was sentenced to deportation to New Caledonia for his role in the Paris commune, but his sentence was commuted to 10 years in exile. Settling in Switzerland, he worked on the journal La Révolte with the anarchist Pytor Kropotkin and directed the newspaper L'Étendard révolutionnaire (1882). His work on the edition of his Géographie universelle earned him a position at the Free University of Brussels. Indefatigable, he never ceased traveling and writing, publishing a work on anarchism, L'Évolution, la Révolution et l'Idéal anarchiste (1898) and, in collaboration with his brother onésime, produced various geographic studies on Africa (L'Afrique australe, 1901) and China (L'Empire du Milieu, 1902). Onésime Reclus (1837-1916), born in Orthez, was also a traveler and geographer. He explored Europe and Africa and published La France et ses colonies (1886-89), while working with his brother on editing studies on Africa and China. Their brother Armand Reclus (1843-1927), born too in Orthez, was likewise a geographer who explored principally Central America. Paul Reclus (1847-1914), another brother, was born in Orthez and did medical research that led to the utilization of cocaine as a local anesthetic, especially for the treatment of tuberculosis and other infections.