Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand born September 4, 1768
Having camped in the cabins of Iroquois, and beneath the tents of Arabs, in the wigwams of Hurons, in the remains of Athens, Jerusalem, Memphis, Carthage, Granada, among Greeks, Turks and Moors, among forests and ruins; after wearing the bearskin cloak of the savage, and the silk caftan of the Mameluke, after suffering poverty, hunger, thirst, and exile, I have sat, a minister and ambassador, covered with gold lace, gaudy with ribbons and decorations, at the table of kings, the feasts of princes and princesses, only to fall once more into indigence and know imprisonment.
Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, 1833
You might know his last name from the famous beefsteak dish named for him, but Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand was more than a menu item.
He led a wildly romantic life, some say highly exaggerated, in Europe and the young Americas.
Through his novels and travel memoirs, Chateaubriand led the Romantic literature movement in post-revolutionary France.
While the French battled among royalists and revolutionaries, Chateaubriand traveled to the Americas in 1791 to explore the south, meet tribes of American indians, and report on the unknown world to hungry readers in Europe. The extent of his travels in America are thought to be exaggerated and though he claims to have met George Washington, some doubt it.
