Isabel Godin des Odonais
| Isabel Godin des Odonais | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Isabel Gramesón 1728 Riobamba, Viceroyalty of Peru (now in Ecuador) |
| Died | 28 September 1792 (aged 64) Saint-Amand-Montrond, Cher, France |
| Nationality | Subject of the Spanish Empire |
Isabel Godin des Odonais (1728 in Riobamba, Viceroyalty of Peru, now in Ecuador – 28 September 1792 in Cher, France) was an 18th-century woman who became separated from her husband in South America by colonial politics, and was not reunited with him until more than 20 years later. Her long journey, from western Peru to the mouth of the Amazon River, is without equal in the history of South America. Her story has been often repeated and inspired popular misconceptions of the dangers of the tropical rain forest.
In 1749, her husband, Jean Godin des Odonais, left their home in Riobamba, Ecuador, Spanish South America to visit French Guiana. As a French citizen, he was refused permission by the Spanish and Portuguese authorities to return for his family. Isabel Godin des Odonais became famous for being the only survivor of a 42-person, 3000-mile expedition through the Amazon Basin to rejoin her husband. They were reunited in 1770 and later returned to France together.
Isabel Godin des Odonais née Gramesón 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 Spanish, French, 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 and naturalist who had joined the world's first geodesy expedition to the equator. The team worked in the Quito region from 1735 to 1744, during which time Jean and Isabel met. They married on 27 December 1741, when Isabel was fourteen years old.
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