FLACOURT, Étienne de (1607-1660), a French governor of Madagascar, was born at Orleans in 1607. When he was named governor of Madagascar by the East India Company in 1648, the French troops had mutinied against the former governor, and a large number of them had also been massacred by the natives. Flacourt soon restored order among the soldiers, but in his dealings with the natives he was less successful, and their intrigues and attacks kept him in continual harassment during all his term of office. As ho was in uncertainty regarding the affairs of the company, he returned in 1655 to France. Not long after he was appointed director general of the company; but, having again returned to Madagascar, ho was drowned on his voyage home, 10th June 1660. Several unknown districts of Madagascar and some small islands in its neighbourhood were explored by the orders of Flacourt, and he also in 1649 took possession of the island of Mascareigne, which ho named Bourbon. He is the author of a Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar (1st edition 1658, 2d edition 1661), which is divided into two parts,—the first containing an account of the island, its inhabitants, and its natural history, and the second detailing the history of the events connected with its occupation by the French. Of this work the only portion of much value is the natural history section, which gives evidence of a considerable amount of minute and careful observation. He published also in 1658 a dictionary of the language of the island, which, however, is very incomplete and full of mistakes.