Jean Ango
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Jean Ango (1480-1551) was a French ship-owner who provided ships to Francis I for exploration of the globe.
A native of Dieppe, Ango took over his father's business, and ventured into the spice trade with Africa and India. In doing this, he was one of the first French to challenge the monopoly of Spain and Portugal. He eventually controlled a fleet, partially or alone, of 70 ships. In 1531, after John III of Portugal had confiscated one of his ships, Ango got the French king's permission to respond. He harassed the Portuguese fleet in the Atlantic, and even threatened to block the port of Lisbon. The Portuguese king finally agreed to pay reparations.
Ango was an intimate friend of king Francis I. In 1521 he was styled Viscount of Dieppe, and in 1533, after the king had visited him in his mansion in Normandy, captain of Dieppe. By the time of his death, however, Ango was almost bankrupt after being forced to participate in a royal armament project.
Ango, in his book La chanson des pilotes, was the first to describe in writing the use of tobacco.
[edit] Notes
^ Poirier, Jean-Pierre, Lavoisier: Chemist, Biologist, Economist (Philadelphia, 1996), p. 417.
[edit] Further reading
- Knecht, R.J. Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-521-57885-X
- Rogozinski, Jan. Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 0-306-80722-X
