The first woman to travel the Amazon to reunite with her husband

Perhaps you have heard little about Isabelle Godin de Odone or do not know about her at all. But this wonderful woman is truly worthy of a story. She risked her life in order to reunite with the man whom she loved almost twenty years after their separation.

Isabelle was born in Ecuador in the family of a civil servant. When she grew up, she met the French cartographer Jean Godin and, of course, fell in love with him. He came to Latin America in 1735. Together with his colleagues, Jean measured and studied the equator. He worked 8 years and walked 2,000 miles to prove that the Earth is a compressed spheroid.

Soon the lovers got married, they had children. Isabelle and Jean spent several happy years before her husband was forced to leave. He heard news of the death of his father. He went to French Guiana. There, Jean learned that the authorities would not allow him to return to Spanish territory. Since Godin did not want to go to France without his family, he stayed in Guiana and conducted continuous correspondence in order to get an opportunity to return.

Years passed, it seemed that they would never see each other again. When Isabelle again had the hope of meeting her husband, she did not miss her. It was only necessary to make a difficult journey through the tropical jungle. It was one of the most incredible. Going into it, the woman had no idea what she would have to face.

The political situation changed and the king of Portugal tried to help Jean reunite with his wife in 1765. He sent him a ship, but he considered this Portuguese gesture a suspicious trap. The fact is that shortly before this, Jean wrote a letter to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he invited him to invade the Portuguese possessions and gain the territory of the Amazon and its wealth. It seemed to him that the Portuguese intercepted the letter and decided to arrest him. The ship waited at the port for almost a year before the French authorities sent it.

Godin made another attempt to find Isabelle. He asked a friend to help pass letters to his wife. He gave him money, put him on a ship, sent him on the Amazon. However, he disappeared without a trace along the way.

In 1769, Isabelle was informed that Jean was in French Guiana and was attempting to return. Meanwhile, almost twenty years have passed since the separation. Their children have already died from disease. A determined woman began her journey to her husband on October 1, 1769. She took with her four servants, two brothers, a nephew, three French travelers, and several dozen natives. They decided to get to Guiana through the Andes.

Isabelle may not have been aware, but she was the first woman to cross the Amazon at the call of her heart. The first person to walk through the Amazon in the middle of the 16th century was the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Aurellana.

The woman did not count on a difficult trip. She put on long skirts, took the most fashionable blouses with her, high-heeled shoes on her feet. Isabelle got into the wagon, which two people carried with the help of poles. Following her, the natives dragged a bunch of suitcases with clothes, silver spoons and expensive dishes. Travelers expected to drive 3,000 miles in 6 months. 41 accompanying people went with her. They all died en route, except Isabelle.

It was planned that as soon as they reach the Amazon, they will be met by good-natured people who will help to load all things in a canoe, and they will calmly swim to their destination.

The reality was cruel. As soon as they arrived in the village, it was empty. Everyone who lived there died of smallpox. Isabelle and her surroundings struggled their way through tropical vegetation. Stopping for the night, on the first night they heard a piercing cry of an unknown animal. Then the cry of the servant returning from the hunt. As the servant himself later said, he ran into a jaguar. He left him the booty and rushed to the run.

A few days later, people started to get sick. No one knew what this disease was. It was only later established that it was malaria. Travelers were dying one by one. Isabelle was left alone. It is not clear how she survived, but after a few days the woman came across a group of natives who went out, fed her, provided fresh clothes and sent to Guiana.

She met her husband on July 22, 1770 in the city of Oyapok. They lived in Cayenne for several years, and then moved to France. There both died in 1792.

Watch the video: Son travels to Amazon jungle to reconnect with mother (May 2024).