Louis Alexandre Antoine Mizon (1853–1899) was a French

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and colonial administrator. Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1853, Mizon entered in the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

in 1869. Between 1880 and 1883 he was at

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza (born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà; 26 January 1852 – 14 September 1905) was an Italian-French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogooué region of Central Africa, ...

's orders, with whom he had difficulties working. In 1890 he was given the command of an expedition meant to find a viable route between the

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

and the Congo rivers by passing by the Benue and

Sangha River The Sangha River (, , ), a tributary of the Congo River, is located in Central Africa. Geography The Sangha River is formed at the confluence of the Mambéré River and the Kadéï River at Nola in the western Central African Republic (). The ...

. He also led a second mission in 1892 in the same places, meant in particular to establish French control over the Adamawa (in modern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

), from which the Benue, the major tributary of the Niger, rises. The plan failed, for the English protested that the claimed territory had been assigned to Britain. In 1895 Mizon was nominated Resident of Majunga, in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. He was promoted to ''administrateur-superieur'' of

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

, at the orders of the governor-general of Madagascar, a position he held between 5 August 1897 and 11 March 1899. Nominated governor of

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

on 7 March 1899, he died, probably through suicide, on 23 March, before reaching his post.

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A short biography
1853 births 1899 deaths Explorers from Paris French Navy officers French explorers of Africa French colonial governors and administrators People of French Equatorial Africa People of French West Africa 19th-century French military personnel {{France-bio-stub

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