Dumont d'Urville, Jules-Sébastien-César

(1790-1842)

   navigator, explorer

   Born in Condé-sur-Noireau, Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'urville, after having taken part in hydro-graphic expeditions in the Aegean Sea (where he recognized the recently unearthed Venus de Milo and secured its acquisition by the French government), and the Black Sea (1819-20), participated in an expedition that circumnavigated the globe (1822-25). He then was given command of the Astrolabe, on which he began an expedition to survey oceania, during the course of which he studied the hydrography of a number of islands (New Zealand, Viti, Loyalty, New Guinea, new Caledonia, and others) and was sent to the island of Vanikoro, where he found evidence of the earlier explorer jean-françois la pérouse, who had been shipwrecked and killed. From 1837 to 1840, Dumont d'Urville explored the Antarctic regions, discovering Louis-Philippe Land, Joinville Island (1839), and Adelie Land (Terre Adélie) (1840). He has left accounts of his voyage: Voyages et découvertes autour du monde et à la recherche de La Pérouse (1822-34), Voyages au pôle Sud et en Océanie (1842-46). Various regions, including D'Urville Sea, off Adélie Coast, and Cape d'Urville, Indonesia, and D'Urville Island, off New zealand, bear his name.