Pierre de Brazza

Pierre de Brazza (born Jan. 26, 1852, near Rome—died Sept. 14, 1905, Dakar, Senegal, French West Africa [Senegal]) was an Italian-born French explorer and colonial administrator who founded the French (Middle) Congo, now the Republic of the Congo, and explored Gabon, which, like the Congo, became a part of French Equatorial Africa. He also founded the city of Brazzaville.

Trained at the French Naval Academy, Brazza became a French citizen in 1874 and an officer in the French navy. In Equatorial Africa, from October 1875 to November 1878, he explored the Ogooué (Ogowe) River and basin from the coast of Gabon to the interior, where he located its source, and reached a Congo River tributary, the Alima River. Under French orders he proceeded up the Ogooué again in 1880. Near Stanley (now Malebo) Pool, on the Congo, he signed treaties establishing a French protectorate of the region that in 1891 became the French Congo. After further exploration of Gabon, he returned to France (June 1882) and saw ratification of the treaties he had concluded. In 1884 he went back to the Congo, founded the city of Brazzaville, and, with official financial backing, began to establish a colony that he governed from 1886 to 1897. Following his recall to France, large commercial concessions were granted in the colony. In 1905 he was sent on a mission to investigate charges of exploitation of the natives of the colony. He died on his return.