François Charles Henry Louis Pouqueville, French physician, naturalist, diplomat, historian and archaeologist, was born in France. He was consul general of the Empire and then of the French Kingdom in Ioannina and Patra. He closely followed the political activity of Ali Pashe Tepelena. He is known as the most important historian of the first quarter of the 19th century for the pashalik of Ioannina. He also visited a large part of Albania, traveling from Ioannina to Shkodër. In his works, especially in “Voyage de la Grèce” (“Journey through Greece”, Paris, 1820) and “Histoire de la regénération de la Grèce” (“History of the revival of Greece”), he gives valuable information about the country, the people and the social strata of Southern Albania. Although a political enemy of the vizier of Ioannina, he proved the best of Ali’s intentions for secession from the Ottoman Empire. His assessments that blacken the true personality of Ali Pasha Tepelena have not stood up to contemporary and later criticism. He died in France, in 1838. (In the photo: Francois Pouqueville)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2124.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Pouqueville
Graphic processing: AHCF
