Fernand Foureau (17 October 1850 – 17 January 1914) was a French explorer and Governor of Martinique from 1908 to 1913. He was born at the Château de Frédière at Saint-Barbant in

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; , ; Upper Vienne) is a département in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve départements that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The prefecture an ...

in the

Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...

region of France. He studied under Henri Duveyrier, the Saharan explorer, who developed Foureau's own interest in the subject. Once in the Sahara, Foureau carried out the first artesian well drilling for the company Oued RIHR and then became famous for his numerous study trips in the desert from 1882, which earned him several awards from the French

Société de Géographie The Société de Géographie (; ), is the world's oldest geographical society. It was founded in 1821 as the first Geographic Society. Since 1878, its headquarters have been at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris. The entrance is marked by two gig ...

.''Nécrologie de Fernand Foureau''
by Henri Schirmer in the ''

Annales de Géographie Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

'', 1914, vol.23 , pp. 179-182.''Fernand Foureau's Obituary''
in ''

The Geographical Journal ''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter ...

'', vol. 43-5, 1914, p. 587-588. Between 1888 and 1896 he also made nine expeditions to southern Algeria to study the feasibility of a trans-Saharan railway line from

Ouargla Ouargla (Berber: Wargrən, ) is the capital city of Ouargla Province in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. It has a flourishing petroleum industry and hosts one of Algeria's universities, the University of Ouargla. The commune of Ouargla had ...

In Salah Ain Salah, officially Aïn Salah (), is an oasis town in central Algeria and the capital of In Salah Province and In Salah District. It was once an important trade link in the trans-Saharan caravan route. As of the 2008 census, it had a popula ...

. From 1898 to 1900 he undertook the long journey from Ouargla to

Lake Chad Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...

with Army officer

Amédée-François Lamy Amédée-François Lamy () was a French military officer. He was born at Mougins, in the French ''département'' of Alpes-Maritimes on 7 February 1858 and died in the battle of Kousséri on 22 April 1900 as a French explorer officer. Biograph ...

, known as the Foureau–Lamy Mission, which was part of the French strategy to conquer

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

and unify all French dominions in West Africa. He made maps, established trans-Saharan routes and performed numerous geographical and meteorological surveys. In 1901 he was awarded the

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

of the French

. In 1906 he was appointed Governor of Mayotte and Comoros and from 1908 to 1913 served as Governor of Martinique.

Honours and awards

* 1889 : Prix Erhard of the Société de géographie * 1895 : Prix Duveyrier of the Société de géographie * 1896 : Prix Janssen of the Société de géographie for his work on the Sahara and the Grande médaille d'or of the société de géographie of Marseille. * 1899 :

Patron's Medal The Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal consists of two separate awards: the Founder's Medal 1830 and the Patron's Medal 1838. Together they form the most prestigious of the society's awards. They are given for "the encouragement and promoti ...

of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

of London. * 1901 :

Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations The Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations et Voyages de Découverte (Great Gold Medal of Exploration and Journeys of Discovery) has been awarded since 1829 by the Société de Géographie of France for journeys whose outcomes have enhanced geogr ...

of the Société de géographie * 1901 :

Prix Leconte The Leconte Prize ( French: ') is a prize created in 1886 by the French Academy of Sciences to recognize important discoveries in mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history or medicine. In recent years the prize has been awarded in the specif ...

of the

Paris Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific d ...

* 1913 : Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(chevalier in 1894, officer in 1900). He also received the colonial medal with clasp " Mission Saharan Africa" , was raised to the rank of Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium and Grand Officer of the Order of the Dragon of Annam.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foureau, Fernand 1850 births 1914 deaths 19th-century French explorers French governors of Martinique