Jean and Isabel Godin

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Jean Godin des Odonais
Born 5 July 1713
Saint-Amand-Montrond, France
Died 1 March 1792
Paris
Nationality French
Occupation Cartographer
Isabel Godin des Odonais
Born Isabel Gramesón
1728
Riobamba, Viceroyalty of Peru (now in Ecuador)
Died September 28, 1792
Cher, France
Nationality Subject of the Spanish Empire

Jean and Isabel Godin des Odonais were an 18th Century couple who became separated in South America by colonial politics, and who were eventually reunited over 20 years later. The travel of Isabel Godin, from Peru to the mouth of the Amazon River, is without equal in the history of South America. Her misadventure and eventual reunion with her husband is an oft repeated story that has given rise to popular misconceptions of the dangers of the tropical rain forest.

In 1749 Jean left their home in Riobamba, Spanish South America to visit French Guiana, but as a French citizen was refused permission by the Spanish and Portuguese authorities to return for his family. Isabel became famous for being the only survivor of a 42-person 3000-mile expedition through the Amazon Basin to meet up with her husband. They were reunited in 1770 and later returned to France together.

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[edit] Background

Isabel Godin des Odonais née Gramesón[1] was the daughter of Don Pedro Gramesón y Bruno, an administrator in Riobamba, a Spanish colonial city in the Viceroy of Peru. She was well-educated and spoke fluent French, Spanish and Quechua, as well as knowing Quipus, the Inca method of communicating information using colored strings and knots.

Jean Godin des Odonais was a French cartographer who had joined the world's first geodesy expedition to the equator, lead by Charles Marie de La Condamine. He had been recommended to La Condamine by the expedition's chief astronomer, his cousin Louis Godin. The team worked in the Quito region from 1735 to 1744, during which time Jean and Isabel met. They married on December 27, 1741, when Isabel was fourteen years old.

[edit] Separation

At first Jean decided to remain in Riobamba with his new wife, but in 1743 he offered to accompany La Condamine on his next endeavor, eventually staying behind because Isabel was pregnant. However, when he heard of his father's death in March 1749 Jean decided to return to France with his family. He planned to first travel alone to Cayenne, French Guiana via the Amazon to test whether the journey would be safe for them to take, and to make the necessary arrangements with the French authorities.

Upon arriving in Cayenne, Jean found the Portuguese and Spanish colonial authorities would not let him — a Frenchman of no importance — return through their territory. Unwilling to return to France without his family he became a reluctant resident of French Guiana, constantly writing pleas to Europe to allow for his return to Riobamba. Eventually, La Condamine wrote on Godin's behalf to the Portuguese king, who due to changing political circumstances was now eager to befriend the French. He ordered a galiot, crewed by thirty oarsmen, to take Jean back to his wife. However, Jean had imprudently written some incendiary letters against the Portuguese, and was extremely suspicious of the offer of passage up the Amazon, abandoning the ship at its first port. The captain of the galiot decided to continue up river without Jean, to fetch the Frenchman's wife as ordered.

For most of their 20 year separation Isabel received no news of her husband, while enduring the death of her children from smallpox. She moved to the smaller community of Guzman. When she heard rumors that a ship was waiting to take her down the Amazon she sent her servant Joachim and a handful of Indians to investigate. The party returned after two years having discovered the waiting ship, four years after its initial departure. Isabel's father, Don Pedro, went ahead to the ship to make arrangements and to wait for Isabel.

[edit] Isabel's Journey

On October 1, 1769 a 42 person party set out for the ship: Isabel, Joachim, Isabel’s two brothers Antoine and Eugenio, Isabel’s ten year old nephew Joaquin, three servants Rosa, Elvia, and Heloise, thirty-one Indians, and three Frenchman. The route across the Andes mountains and Amazon Basin was an arduous one, made worse by the recent devastation by smallpox of the mission station at Canelos (in the present day Pastaza Province), depriving the party of valuable support nine days into their journey. They found two Indian survivors who agreed to repair a forty-foot canoe, in which they continued down the Amazon.

The river journey proved difficult, with the canoe unmanageable, the Indians from Canelos deserting them, and one of the party drowned trying recover the hat of one of the Frenchmen. With the canoe weighed down by supplies, the party set up camp and sent Joachim and one of the Frenchmen ahead in the canoe, so they could return with extra transport. Waiting for Joachim to return, the others began to suffer from infected insect bites. Infection killed Joaquin, then Rosa and Elvia, the remaining Frenchmen and Isabel's brothers. Heloise wandered off in the middle of the night never to be seen again. With the others dead, Isabel was left wandering alone in the jungle.

When Joachim arrived back at the camp, he found only the corpses of the deceased travelers. Unable to identify Isabel's body, he sent word of her death to Don Pedro — news which later reached Jean. Isabel wandered alone and starving for nine days. Half-crazed, she met four Indians who offered her help in reaching Cayenne. With their help, she was able to reach the waiting ship. The story of her incredible journey soon spread, and she was treated to an increasingly grand reception as she made her way downriver.

[edit] Reunion

On July 22, 1770, Isabel and Jean were reunited in the town of Oyapock after over 20 years of separation. They remained in Cayenne for a few years. On April 21, 1773, Isabel, her husband and her father decided to leave Guiana and finally make their way to France. Don Pedro, having been severely unhinged by the events leading up to their arrival in France, died on November 28, 1780. Jean Godin died in their home on the Rue de l’Hotel-Dieu, Paris on March 1, 1792. Isabel died in Cher on September 28 that same year.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Whitaker (2004). Smith (2003) gives the varient Isabela Grandmaison as her maiden name, while other accounts use Isabel de Casa Mayor [1].

[edit] Bibliography

  • Anthony Smith (2003) The Lost Lady of the Amazon: The Story of Isabela Godin and Her Epic Journey, Carroll & Graf
  • Robert Whitaker (2004) The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon, Basic Books
  • Celia Wakefield (1994) Searching for Isabel Godin, Chicago Review Press

[edit] External links