PONCET, CHARLES-JACQUES

born , Franche-Comt died 1706, Persia French resident pharmacist in Cairo known for the account of his travels in Ethiopia, which was closed to Europeans after about 1630. Poncet was summoned to Gonder, the Ethiopian capital, to treat the emperor Iyasu I and his son for leprosy. His account of the journey, A Voyage to Ethiopia in the Years 1698, 1699 and 1700, is the only European source for the history of Ethiopia in this period. Poncet, who had lived in Egypt since 1687, departed for Ethiopia in May 1698. He ascended the Nile River and turned south through the Nubian Desert, reaching Gonder in July 1699. He cured the Emperor and his son and made a detailed description of the country during his nine-month stay. An attempt to establish diplomatic relations between the Emperor and Louis XIV of France came to nothing, and Poncet's account of his voyage was unfairly discredited. In 1702 Poncet left France to return to Ethiopia, but a civil war in Ethiopia prevented his return.