Louis Antoine de Bougainville

Louis Antoine de Bougainville

Portrait by Joseph Ducreux, 1790
Born12 November 1729
Paris, France
Died31 August 1811(1811-08-31) (aged 81)
Paris, France
Allegiance France
Branch France Army
 French Navy
RelationsHyacinthe de Bougainville (son)

Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (French: [buɡɛ̃vil]; 12 November 1729 – 31 August 1811) was a French military officer and explorer. A contemporary of the British explorer James Cook, he served in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Bougainville later gained fame for his expeditions, including a circumnavigation of the globe in a scientific expedition in 1763, the first recorded settlement on the Falkland Islands, and voyages into the Pacific Ocean. Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea as well as the flowering plant Bougainvillea are named in his honour.