Paul Crampel
Paul Crampel (17 November 1864 – 9 April 1891) was a French explorer. He was born in Nancy.
After finishing his studies in humanities, he was hired as a private secretary by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852-1905), who in August 1888, entrusted Crampel with exploring the Ogooué north basin (0mostly located in present-day Gabon). In the following months, Crampel mapped over 2000 km of routes and signed a number of treaties with local African chieftains.[1]
In 1890 the Comité de l'Afrique française tasked him with an expedition to Lake Chad. In September he disembarked at Bangui on the Ubangi River, the last outpost of French occupation, and trekked upcountry northward. Several months later he reached the remote village of El Kouti, roughly 500 km from the Ubangi (between 9 and 10 degrees North latitude). On 9 April 1891, Crampel and a number of men in his caravan were murdered at El Kouti.
Written works involving Paul Crampel
- Au pays des M'Fans voyage d'exploration de M. Paul Crampel dans le nord du Congo francais, 1888, Paul Crampel (1890)
- Itineraires au nord de l'Ogooué dans les bassins de l'Ivindo, du Djah et du Ntem, Paul Crampel (1890)
- A la conquête du Tchad, Harry Alis (alias of journalist Jules-Hippolyte Percher (1857-1895), a friend of Paul Crampel)
- Un explorateur du centre de l'Afrique: Paul Crampel, 1864-1891, Pierre Kalck[2]
References
- Meyers Encyclopedia (4th ed.) 1885-1892] (translated from German)
- Parts of this article are based on equivalent articles at the French- and German-language articles in Wikipedia.