Gabriel de Clieu

Gabriel-Mathieu Francois D'ceus de Clieu (c. 1687, region of Dieppe, France – 29 November 1774, in Paris), naval officer, was the governor of Guadeloupe from 1737 to 1752 and the founder of Pointe-à-Pitre. He was awarded the rank of commander of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis.

De Clieu is celebrated for his claim to have introduced coffee to the French colonies of the Western Hemisphere in the 1720s and his support for its cultivation.

Introduction of Coffee to Martinique

The story of de Clieu's introduction of coffee comes from his account in the Année littéraire of 1774. According to this account, he arranged to transport a coffee plant (or perhaps several) from the greenhouses of the Jardin royal des plantes (which had originally received two plants from lieutenant général d'artillerie M.Ressou who brought them back from Holland in 1713) to Martinique in 1720. According to de Clieu's account, water was rationed on the voyage, and he shared his ration with the seedlings. The story is repeated in many histories of coffee. However, a recent history points out that though it may well be true that de Clieu brought a seedling to Martinique, and perhaps even that he shared his water ration with it, coffee was already growing in the Western Hemisphere: in the French colony of Saint-Domingue since 1715 and in the Dutch colony of Surinam since 1718.

Museum

De Clieu's descendants in Dieppe, France are currently working a museum to commemorate the legend of DeClieu.