Eugène Abdon Mage (30 July 1837 – 19 December 1869) was a French naval officer and explorer of Africa. Mage published the first detailed description of the

Toucouleur Empire The Tukulor Empire (; ; ; also known as the Tijaniyya Jihad state or the Segu Tukulor or the Tidjaniya Caliphate or the Umarian State) (1861–1890) was an Islamic state in the mid-nineteenth century founded by Elhadj Oumar Foutiyou Tall of the ...

created by

El Hadj Umar Tall Hadji Oumarûl Foutiyou Tall (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd al-Fūtī Ṭaʿl, , – 1864 CE), born in Futa Tooro, present-day Senegal, was a Senegalese Tijani sufi Toucouleur Islamic scholar and military commander who founded the short-lived Touc ...

Early life

Abdon-Eugène Mage was born in Paris. His father, Abdon-Jean-René Mage, was head teacher of a private secondary school. His mother, Henriette Cattant, was born in

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise Departments of France, département, in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, north of Paris. The Communes of France, commune o ...

and came from a bourgeois family in northern France. At the age of 13 years Mage passed the entrance exam for the

École Navale École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, the French Naval Academy based in

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port, port city in the Finistère department, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of a peninsula and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an impor ...

. Two years later, at the age of 15, he was assigned to the frigate ''La Forte'' and in December 1852 set sail for

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...

in Peru, stopping at

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

and Valparaiso. Over the next two years he served on several ships, transporting troops and visiting

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. In the summer of 1855, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, he participated in the Anglo-French blockade of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

in the Baltic. He then returned to Brest and in September 1855 at the age of 18 was promoted to the rank of sub-lieutenant.

West Africa

Mage lived as adjudicator of the General

Louis Faidherbe Louis Léon César Faidherbe (; 3 June 1818 – 29 September 1889) was a French general and colonial administrator. He created the Senegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor of Senegal. Early life Faidherbe was born into a lower-middle-cla ...

since 1858 in West Africa (in modern Senegal). After the 1860 voyage into north Senegal and toward Tagant (in modern

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

) and many expeditions north along the rivers Saloum and Sine toward Gambia, in 1863 with the Marines' doctor Louis Quintin (and others) traversed Bafoulabe, Kita, Nioro and Diangounté Camara in western Mali. He arrived in February 1864 at

Ségou Ségou (; , ) is a town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 inhabitant ...

, where he stayed for 26 months as the guest of

Ahmadu Tall Ahmad al-Madani al-Kabir at-Tijani, commonly known as Ahmadou Sekou Tall or Ahmadu Sekou (June 21, 1836 – December 15, 1897) was the '' Laamdo Dioulbé'' (ruler) of the Toucouleur Empire from 1864 to 1893 and '' Faama'' of Ségou from 1864 to 1 ...

. It was not until early June 1866 that Mage returned to Saint Louis. In February 1868, Mage was given command of the

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

''La Gorgone''. He patrolled the coast of the Iberian peninsula during 1869 and then headed back to

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

. On 19 December 1869, while attempting to round the

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

peninsula, the ship was wrecked on the Pierres Noires rocks, south of

Ushant Ushant (; , ; , ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and in medieval times, Léon. In lower tiers of government, it is a commune in t ...

. All 93 crew were drowned and Mage's body was never recovered. By their astronomical navigation and close attention to cartography Mage and Quintin are responsible for the first detailed map of western Sudan. Mage describes his journey in his literary works (see below).

Works

*. Includes a map. *. *. *.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mage, Eugene 1837 births 1869 deaths 19th-century French explorers