72 Facts About Paul Soleillet

Paul Soleillet was a French explorer in West Africa and Ethiopia.

Paul Soleillet was a strong believer in opening up Africa to trade through peaceful means, and thus bringing the benefits of French civilization to the natives while gaining commercial profits for France.

Paul Soleillet made an unsuccessful attempt to travel from Senegal to Algeria in 1880.

Paul Soleillet spent his last years in East Africa tying to develop trade between the French enclave of Djibouti and Ethiopia.

Jean-Joseph-Marie-Michel-Paul Soleillet was born in Nimes on 29 April 1842.

Paul Soleillet's family originated in Marseille but was long settled in Nimes.

Paul Soleillet's father retired as Director of Direct Contributions in Montpellier.

Paul Soleillet's cousin, Ferdinand Boyer, was a barrister in Nimes who became a deputy in 1871.

Paul Soleillet was related to the Chabaud-Latours, a prominent local family with national connections.

Paul Soleillet was a day student at the college of Saint-Joseph.

Paul Soleillet's father gave him a job in his office, and was grooming him to succeed him.

Paul Soleillet had been pushed into marrying a girl from a good family.

Paul Soleillet became partner of a small manufacturer of gold and silver lame fabrics designed for the North African market, travelled to Algeria and fell in love with the country.

Paul Soleillet first visited Algeria in 1865 and returned to Algiers in 1866, when he visited much of French Algeria.

Paul Soleillet's company went bankrupt, and then in 1870 the Franco-Prussian War began.

Paul Soleillet returned to France and enrolled as a private soldier.

Paul Soleillet served in the Battle of Coulmiers and throughout the Loire campaign.

In October 1871 Paul Soleillet wrote to the Minister of Public Works about bringing trade from the Central Sahara and West Sudan to the Algerian markets.

However, in Marseille Paul Soleillet was introduced to Felix de Surville, a financier and economist who put Paul Soleillet in touch with the Societe Generale Algerienne.

Paul Soleillet returned to Algeria in 1872 and visited South Algeria as far as the Amour Range and M'zab.

Paul Soleillet wore Arab dress and travelled light with a small escort of four men.

Paul Soleillet had borrowed 1,500 francs to finance the Algerian trip and was slow to return it.

Paul Soleillet returned to Algiers after completing this first expedition.

Paul Soleillet met generals Loverdo and Wimpffen, the geographer MacCarthy and the professor Masqueray.

Paul Soleillet returned to France to try to raise money from official and private sources to fund an expedition to the oasis of In-Salah in the Tuat, which he thought was a central point where all the routes converged that linked the Mediterranean basin with the Niger basin, but which was at that time more impenetrable than Timbuktu.

Paul Soleillet proposed to create a great commercial center in the South of Algeria, with roads uniting Algeria to Niger.

Paul Soleillet suggested starting an annual fair in El Goleah, and proposed to open a commercial agency in In-Salah.

Paul Soleillet said later the goal of his trip from September 1872 to April 1873, and from 1873 to 1874, was to determine the needs and resources of the countries with which France would open commercial links and bring the benefits of French civilization.

However, Paul Soleillet had difficulty raising money and did not get support from traders in Oran and Constantine.

Paul Soleillet adopted Arab costume for his 1874 trip to In-Salah so he would be seen not as a conqueror but as a brother.

Paul Soleillet thought that taking astronomical observations might make the natives suspicious, so just used a chronometer to estimate the duration of each stage of the journey and took the general direction of the route several times a day.

Paul Soleillet was accompanied on his trip to In-Salah by four merchants who brought goods from Algiers such as sugar, matches, candles and shot pellets.

Paul Soleillet only spent a few hours at In-Salah, where the notables refused to meet him or read his messages, and made it clear their loyalty was to the Sultan of Morocco.

Paul Soleillet wrote of his arrival in In-Salah in 1874, accompanied by four Muslims,.

Paul Soleillet proposed that the solution was for France to buy the slaves and use them to repopulate the Sahara, where they would be introduced to agriculture and the arts and the civilization of Europe.

On returning to France Paul Soleillet became a key advocate of the proposed trans-Saharan railway.

Paul Soleillet was invited to Spain, Holland and Belgium, and spoke at the International Congress of Geography in 1875.

Paul Soleillet talked of "peaceful civilization" and of the great commercial opportunities for France.

In 1876 Paul Soleillet asked for financial support for an expedition to Timbuktu, but was turned down.

Paul Soleillet had defeated a rebellion by two of his half brothers in Kaarta in 1871.

Paul Soleillet left Saint-Louis for Segou on 28 April 1878 and travelled eastward through Kaarta and Beledougou.

Paul Soleillet took two African servants and less than a dozen donkeys with him.

Paul Soleillet felt that his lack of pomp and peaceful disposition would almost always win him friendly treatment.

Paul Soleillet visited the area when Muntaga's rebellion was starting to develop, and when the French were starting to push eastward.

Paul Soleillet passed through the western Umarian garrisons of Kooniakary and Dialla.

At Kooniakary Paul Soleillet found several Futanke who could speak some French, and these were used to watch him and make sure he was told only the official line.

However, Paul Soleillet heard of the rebellion from one of the dissident brothers, whom he met at Dialla, and from then on constantly tried to get information about any challenges to Amadu.

Paul Soleillet stayed at Segou until 20 January 1879, then returned to Saint-Louis by way of Nioro, Kooniakary and Medine.

On his return to France Paul Soleillet was received with pomp by the Geographical Society of Bordeaux.

Paul Soleillet met Freycinet and Jules Ferry, and was given the palms of an officer of the Academie francaise.

Paul Soleillet received an inscribed gold chronometer from the Societe de geographie de Lyon.

Paul Soleillet was consulted on these plans, and on the plans for Senegal.

On 1 August 1879 Paul Soleillet read a paper to the Geographical Society of Paris on his journey to Segou-Sikoro.

Paul Soleillet was particularly interested in exploring the land between In-Salah and Timbuktu in connection with the projected Trans-Sahara railway.

On 15 March 1880 Paul Soleillet met Sheikh Saadbouh at his encampment in Inchiri, in what is northeastern Mautitania.

Paul Soleillet gave various gifts to the Sheikh, who gave him milk, dates and mutton in return.

The Sheikh sent his brother and nephew to rescue Paul Soleillet and bring him back to his camp.

Paul Soleillet was forced to retrace his steps to Saint-Louis, and return to France to obtain fresh resources.

Paul Soleillet lost support from the Senegal authorities when he sent a letter to the radical journal Le Rappel in which he criticized the Senegal military administration for inefficiency and waste, which might cause the planned railway to fail.

In 1881 Paul Soleillet was given charge of a commercial mission to the Gulf of Tadjoura and the kingdom of Shewa.

Paul Soleillet was recruited as general agent of the Societe francais d'Obock.

In January 1882 Paul Soleillet established a factory at Obock, Djibouti.

Paul Soleillet built a tower at Obock that was blown down by the wind in 1885.

Paul Soleillet set off to explore the routes of the caravans carrying salt and other goods in the Afar trade to find an alternative to the Issa Somali routes that terminated at Zeila.

In October 1882 Paul Soleillet joined his associate Leon Chefneux at Shewa.

Until Paul Soleillet had arrived the Italian and French traders had tried to avoid disputes and display a common European front.

Paul Soleillet described the trade of Bonga as primarily slaves, coffee, musk of civets, coriander and ivory, with a turnover of $200,000 and $300,000 a year.

Paul Soleillet returned to Europe in 1884, soon afterwards returning to Shewa.

Towards the end of his life Paul Soleillet became involved in arms trafficking in Ethiopia.

Paul Soleillet wrote that he intended to go from there to Shewa to continue the work of rapprochement between Shewa and France.

In 1886 Paul Soleillet published two versions of his voyages to Ankober and Kaffa.

On 10 September 1886 Paul Soleillet died of sunstroke in a street in Aden at the age of 44.