Jean-Louis Berlandier was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, physician, and anthropologist.

Berlandier was born in rural Fort de l'Écluse, near France's border with Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, and trained as a botanist

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

. During this time he probably served an apprenticeship to a pharmacist

Pharmacist

Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...

.

In his early 20s, he joined a Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 scientific expedition as a biologist

Biologist

A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

 and plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 specialist. Berlandier arrived at Pánuco, in the Mexican state

States of Mexico

The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...

 of Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

, in December 1826. He collected plants in the surrounding area before continuing into Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 as part of the Mexican Boundary Commission. The commission left Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 on November 10, 1827, under the command of Manuel de Mier y Terán

Manuel de Mier y Terán

José Manuel Rafael Simeón de Mier y Terán , commonly called Manuel de Mier y Terán or General Teran, was a Mexican general involved in the Mexican and Texan revolutions.-Early career:...

. Berlandier made botanical collections around Laredo, Texas

Laredo, Texas

Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...

, in February 1828 and around San Antonio, Gonzales

Gonzales, Texas

Gonzales is a city in Gonzales County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,202 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gonzales County.-Geography:Gonzales is located at...

, and San Felipe

San Felipe, Texas

San Felipe, also known as San Felipe de Austin, is a town in Austin County, Texas, United States. The town was the social, economic, and political center of the early Stephen F. Austin colony. The population was 868 at the 2000 census.-History:...

 in March, April, and May 1828. After a brief trip to the interior of the country due to malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

, he returned to San Antonio. He collected botanical specimens, made notes on animal species, and collected information on over forty Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tribes in the surrounding territory, with special emphasis on the Comanche

Comanche

The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...

. In the fall of 1828, with a group of 30 Mexican soldiers led by Colonel José Francisco Ruiz

Jose Francisco Ruiz

José Francisco "Francis" Ruiz was a Texas revolutionary-Early life and family:Ruiz was born in San Antonio de Bexar, Texas to Juan Manuel Ruiz and María Manuela de la Peña. Appointed the first schoolmaster of San Antonio in 1803, he designated a house acquired by his father on Military Plaza as...

, Berlandier accompanied Comanche leaders Reyuna and El Ronca on a bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 and American Bison

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

 hunt on open lands northwest of San Antonio. From November 19 to December 18, Berlandier accompanied Ruiz to explore the silver mines

Silver mining

Silver mining refers to the resource extraction of the precious metal element silver by mining.-History:Silver has been known since ancient times. It is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated...

 on the San Saba River

San Saba River

The San Saba River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It is an undeveloped and scenic waterway located on the northern boundary of the Edwards Plateau.-Course:...

. On February 3, 1829, he also joined a force led by Antonio Elosúa to put down an uprising against the presidio

Presidio

A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...

 commander at Goliad

Goliad, Texas

Goliad is a city in Goliad County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 1975 at the 2000 census. Founded on the San Antonio River, it is the county seat of Goliad County. It is part of the Victoria, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area. Goliad is located on U.S. Highway 59, named also for...

.

After the commission was dissolved in November 1829, Berlandier settled in Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...

, and became a physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

. He made additional botanical and animal collecting trips in Texas and other parts of Mexico, including returning to Goliad in 1834.

Berlandier compiled detailed information on the expeditions, including catalogues of plants, animals and Native American groups. This information is among the earliest ethnological studies of the tribes of the southern plains. One of his original manuscripts, dated 1834, is currently held by the Gilcrease Museum

Gilcrease Museum

Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...

 in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...

.

Berlandier served as a captain, cartographer

Cartography

Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...

, and aide-de-camp in Mexico's Army of the North at the outbreak of hostilities

Mexican–American War

The Mexican–American War, also known as the First American Intervention, the Mexican War, or the U.S.–Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S...

 between the United States and Mexico in the spring of 1846, under the command of General (later President) Mariano Arista

Mariano Arista

Mariano Arista was a noted veteran of many of Mexico's nineteenth century wars who served as president of Mexico from 15 January 1851 to 6 January 1853....

. Captain Berlandier drew the first sketch maps of the battle of Palo Alto

Battle of Palo Alto

The Battle of Palo Alto was the first major battle of the Mexican-American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas...

 (May 8, 1846), which now reside in the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

. Berlandier's extensive knowledge of the region of south Texas and Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...

, garnered from his field explorations to collect botanical specimens, was invaluable to General Arista.

After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

ended the fighting in February 1848, Berlandier was asked in 1850 to take part in the International Boundary Commission to define the border between Mexico and the United States.

Publications

• Berlandier, Jean-Louis. "Grossulariaciae," (an article on the gooseberry),

• published in the "Mémoires of the Society of Natural History of Geneva"; 1824.
• included in Auguste Pyrame DeCandolle's "Prodromus", a book on the plants of the world, 1826.
  • Berlandier, Jean-Louis and Chovell, Rafael. "Diario de viaje de la Comisión de Límites." 1850.
  • Berlandier, Jean-Louis (translated by Sheila M. Ohlendorf et al.) "Journey to Mexico during the Years 1826 to 1834. (in two volumes)." Texas State Historical Association, Austin, Texas, 1980.
  • Berlandier, Jean-Louis (translated by Frank Mares) "Itinerario: Campaña de Palo Alto y Resaca de Guerrero." Yale University:Western America Collection MS S-310, 1846.
  • Berlandier, Jean-Louis "Journal of Jean Louis Berlandier during 1846–1847, Including the Time When He Was Driven from Matamoros by the Americans." Thomas Phillips Collection, MS 15512 (Berlandier), Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Copy on file at the Arnulfo L. Oliveira Library, University of Texas at Brownsville.