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Jeanne Baret (; 27 July 1740 – 5 August 1807) was a French explorer, naturalist, and botanist who is recognised as the first woman to have completed a voyage of circumnavigation of the globe, which she did via boat.

A key part of her journey was as a member of Louis Antoine de Bougainville's expedition on the ships Boudeuse and Étoile in 1766–1769. Jeanne Baret joined the expedition disguised as a man, calling herself Jean Baret. She enlisted as valet and assistant to the expedition's naturalist, Philibert Commerson, shortly before Bougainville's ships sailed from France. According to Bougainville's account, Baret was an expert botanist.

Jeanne Baret was born on 27 July 1740, in the village of La Comelle in the Burgundy region of France, and baptized the next day. Her record of baptism survives and identifies her as the legitimate issue of Jean Baret and Jeanne Pochard. Her mother died in November 1741 (according to the parish records at the age of 45); her father then married Antoinette Mangematin, who died in 1745, and then Jeanne Teuvenot, who died in 1747 at the age of 40. Baret's father died in December 1755; the register of his death and burial mentions a son Pierre Baret (born 1734) as well as a son-in-law, indicating that Jeanne Baret had a brother and a sister.

At some point between 1760 and 1764, Baret became employed as housekeeper to Commerson. It is also evident that Baret and Commerson shared a more personal relationship, as Baret became pregnant in 1764. Possibly to disguise her identity, Baret used the name "Jeanne de Bonnefoy" during this period. Before leaving Paris, Commerson drew up a will in which he left to "Jeanne Baret, known as de Bonnefoi, my housekeeper", a lump sum of 600 livres along with back wages owed and the furnishings of their Paris apartment.

Baret and Commerson joined the Bougainville expedition at the port of Rochefort in late December 1766. Vivès has the most to say about Baret, but his memoir is problematical because he and Commerson were on bad terms throughout the voyage, and his account – largely written or revised after the fact – is full of innuendo and spiteful comments directed at both Commerson and Baret. According to Bougainville, rumours that Baret was a woman had circulated for some time, but her sex was not finally confirmed until the expedition reached Tahiti in April 1768. Bougainville's account of Baret's unmasking on Tahiti is not corroborated by the other journal accounts of the expedition, although Vivès describes a similar incident in which Baret was immediately pointed out as a woman by the Tahitian Ahu-toru on board the ship.

While over seventy species are named in honor of Commerson, very few, such as Polyscias baretiana, Solanum baretiae, and Acalypha baretiae honor Baret. Timaná published a description of Baretia lanata, a species in the new genus Baretia in the Caryophyllaceae family of flowering plants, named in honor of Baret. The New York Botanical Garden includes a plant specimen, attributed to Commerson but believed to be collected by Baret with him, in their herbarium. Jeanne Baret is referred to in Amitav Ghosh's 2008 novel Sea of Poppies: The fictional character Paulette Lambert identifies "Philippe and Jeanne Commerson" as her "grand-uncle and grand-aunt". For many years, Bougainville's published journal – a popular bestseller in its day, in the original French as well as in English translations – was the only widely available source of information about Baret. The 2010 biography of Baret by Glynis Ridley, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, brought Baret to the attention of a wider audience and helped to overturn some of the old misconceptions about her life. New research by French researchers has provided clearer archival information on Jeanne Baret's life, as has a new biography by Danielle Clode, In Search of the Woman who Sailed the World, published in 2020.

Quick Facts

• Jeanne Baret joined the expedition disguised as a man, calling herself Jean Baret.
• The 2010 biography of Baret by Glynis Ridley, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, brought Baret to the attention of a wider audience and helped to overturn some of the old misconceptions about her life.
• Baret's father died in December 1755; the register of his death and burial mentions a son Pierre Baret (born 1734) as well as a son-in-law, indicating that Jeanne Baret had a brother and a sister.
• According to Bougainville's account, Baret was an expert botanist.
• Jeanne Baret is referred to in Amitav Ghosh's 2008 novel Sea of Poppies: The fictional character Paulette Lambert identifies "Philippe and Jeanne Commerson" as her "grand-uncle and grand-aunt".

Source material: Wikipedia - "Jeanne Baret". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.