Chef d'escadre Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer. Having enlisted in the Navy at the age of 15, he had a successful career and in 1785 was appointed to
Portrait by Geneviève Brossard de Beaulieu, 1778
Lapérouse commanded the frigate Astrée in the action of 21 July 1781.
Louis XVI, seated at right, giving Lapérouse his instructions on 29 June 1785. Louis XVI Giving His Instructions to La Pérouse by Nicolas-André Monsiau (1817). (Château de Versailles)
Easter Island in 1786
La Pérouse Strait
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La Pérouse Strait, or Sōya Strait, is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan o
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse
…north through the narrow Strait of Tartary between Oku-Yeso Island and mainland Asia, but failed. Instead, he turned south, and then sailed east through La Pérouse Strait, between Oku-Yeso Island (Sakhalin) and Yezo (Hokkaidō), where he met more Ainu in their third domain of the Kuril Islands, and explored. Lapérouse…
La Pérouse Strait, from Cape Sōya, Hokkaido. Sakhalin is visible in the distance.