Benoît de Maillet

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Benoît de Maillet (April 12 1656 in Saint-Mihiel - January 30 1738 in Marseille) was a French anthropologist and well-traveled diplomat, who formulated the first evolutionary hypothesis to explain the origin of the man (1735).

He did not attend university, but he received an excellent classical education. From a wealthy catholic family, he was interested in geology and natural history. He recognized the true nature of fossils, but thought that birds had derived from flying fish.

His main work, "Telliamed" was published in Amsterdam (1720) and was dedicated to Cyrano de Bergerac. It was, in its essence, a ultraneptúnia theory of the Land, to a large extent based on field geology discerned during extensive trips throughout Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. It argued that the Biblical chronology could not be correct. It influenced several great naturalists for many years.

In politics he was French general consul at Cairo (1692-1708), during which time he studied the Egyptian pyramids, and at Leghorn (1712-1717), French overseer in the Levant and the Barbarous states.