Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

Who was Jean-Baptiste Tavernier?

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant traveling at his own expense, covered by his own account, 60,000 leagues, 120,000 miles making six voyages to Persia and India between the years 1630-1668. In 1675, Tavernier, at the behest of his patron, Louis XIV, published Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. In 1669 Tavernier purchased for 60,000 livres the Seigneury of Aubonne, located in the Duchy of Savoy near the city of Geneva and became Baron of Aubonne.