André Thevet

In 1549, thanks to the support of John, Cardinal of Lorraine, he embarked on an extended exploration trip to Asia, Greece, Rhodes,[1] Palestine and Egypt.

[3][4] Although purportedly based on his own firsthand experiences, Thevet also used previous published sources, as well as verbal accounts from other explorers and sailors and from indigenous Canadians who had been brought back to France.

Thevet's use of such a variety of sources not otherwise printed, despite the considerable errors and contradictions, means that his work remains valuable for the ethnography of Eastern Canada and Brazil .

[2] Les singularitez de la France Antarctique contains the first descriptions in European texts of plants such as the manioc, pineapple, peanut and tobacco, as well as of the animals macaw, sloth and tapir.

[3] Once Thevet was established as cosmographer to the French court, he compiled his Cosmographie Universelle, intended to describe every part of the known world.