Olivier Le Jeune

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olivier Le Jeune (buried 10 May 1654) was the first recorded slave purchased in New France.

Olivier was a young boy (Le Jeune means the Young in French) from Madagascar, believed to have been less than eight years of age when he was brought to New France, in an area later known as Quebec, by British Commander David Kirke in 1628. Shortly after his arrival Olivier was sold to Olivier Le Tardiff, head clerk of the French colony.

When Quebec was handed back to the French in 1632, Le Tardiff left the colony. Upon doing so he sold his slave to a Quebec resident. The boy was educated in a school established by the Jesuit priest, Father Le Jeune and later baptised as Olivier Le Jeune, taking the first name of the French clerk and the surname of the Jesuit priest.

Olivier Le Jeune died on May 10, 1654. It is believed that by the time of his death his official status was changed from that of "domestic servant" to freeman.

Although he is often referred to as a black African from Madagascar, he also may have been of partial Malay ancestry, which would have been quite common owning to the fact that Madagascar had been originally settled by diverse peoples of both South-East Asia as well as Africa.