Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetLouis Aleno de St Aloüarn
French explorer
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Guengat, Brittany, France
About Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn
- Louis Francois Marie Aleno de Saint Aloüarn (25 July 1738 – 27 October 1772) was a notable French mariner and explorer. St Aloüarn was the first European to make a formal, but now unrecognised, claim of sovereignty — on behalf of France — over the west coast of Australia, which was known at the time as "New Holland".
- Much of this west coast had already been charted by other mariners from the Netherlands, following a landing by Dirk Hartog in 1616, who left a commemorative plaque recording his visit.
- James Cook, in 1770, had charted and claimed the east coast for Britain.
- When St Aloüarn visited New Holland in 1772, neither British nor Dutch officials had issued a formal claim over this western part of New Holland.
- However, the French claim over Western Australia was never secured by a permanent settlement.
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