MOLLIEN, GASPARD-THODORE

born Aug. 29, 1796, Paris, France died June 28, 1872, Nice French explorer and diplomat who was one of the earliest European explorers of the West African interior; his reports revealed an unimagined variety of geography and cultures to Europe. Mollien reached the French colonial station of Saint-Louis, Senegal, in 1817 and in January 1818 began his expedition to discover the sources of the Sngal, Gambia, and Niger rivers. His travels, which lasted until January 1819, took him across Senegal, Guinea, and Portuguese Guinea. Though he failed to locate the source of the Niger River, his were the first European contacts with the complex and numerous peoples of that part of the interior of West Africa. Mollien got on well with the inhabitants, and his book Voyage dans l'interieure de l'Afrique (1820; Journey in the African Interior) testifies to the hospitality and civility of the Africans he met. After his return to Europe, where he was lionized, Mollien explored in the new republic of Colombia (1823), was appointed French consul to Haiti (1828), and later became consul general to Cuba (1831).