Étienne de Flacourt

Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660) was a French governor of Madagascar, born in Orléans in 1607.

He was named governor of Madagascar by the French East India Company in 1648.

In his dealings with the Malagasy, he was less successful; he was continually harassed by their intrigues and attacks during his entire term of office.

[1] Flacourt was one of the few, if not the only, Westerners to have recorded knowledge of the elephant birds, sloth lemurs, giant fossas, and dwarf hippopotamus of Madagascar when they were possibly still extant.

Flacourtia, a genus of flowering plants in the willow family, Salicaceae, was named in his honor .