Onésime Reclus (22 September 1837 – 30 June 1916), was a French
geographer who specialized in the relations between France and its colonies. In 1880 he coined the term
Francophonie (the community of French speakers) as a means of classification of peoples of the world, determined by the language they spoke. While this term did not appear in dictionaries until 1930, it has become more important since the late 20th century as part of the conceptual rethinking of cultures and geography. This photograph of Reclus was taken by the French photographer
Nadar in 1889.
Photograph credit: Nadar; restored by Jebulon