born Jan. 26, 1852, near Rome [Italy]
died Sept. 14, 1905, Dakar, Seneg., French West Africa
French explorer and colonial administrator.
Born to Italian nobility in Brazil, he joined the French navy. In 1875–78 he explored the Ogooué River (in present-day Gabon). Racing his British-U.S. counterpart, Brazzaville (1883), adding some 200,000 sq mi (500,000 sq km) to the French colonial empire. From 1886 to 1897 he governed a colony there.