Nicolas Baudin

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Nicolas Baudin

1754-1803

French explorer who helped map the Australian coast during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Baudin was among the first of many French sailors to contribute toward the mapping of the Australian coast and the islands of the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. Though their efforts provided the French with the potential to launch a huge colonial empire, this advantage was squandered during the French revolutions and preoccupations with continental European affairs.