Pierre Gabriel Édouard Bonvalot (13 July 1853 – 10 December 1933) 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 ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. Bonvalot was born in the commune of Épagne in the

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

department in north-central

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He was the son of Pierre Bonvalot and Louise-Félicie, née Congniasse des Jardins. He attended schooling at

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

. Pierre Gabriel Édouard Bonvalot
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Expeditions from 1880-1887

In 1880–1882 he visited

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n controlled Central Asia and returned to France via

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

, the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

, and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

.BONVALOT, PIERRE GABRIEL ÉDOUARD

The Columbia Encyclopedia The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University Columb ...

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

His travels were financed by the Minister of Public Instruction. In 1886, he set out for Russian Central Asia with Guillaume Capus, a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, and doctor of

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, and designer Albert Pépin. They departed from

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

in 1886 and traveled up to the border with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. During the winter season, they remained in

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

and sought a way to cross the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

from north to south and reach

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 1887 they crossed through Kyrgyz territory in the Alai Mountains. As a European, Bonvalot felt superior to the locals and used threats or force to obtain equipment, supplies, pack animals and porters. He crossed the Pamirs,

Chitral Chitral () is a city situated on the Kunar River, Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before ...

, where he was detained for more than a month, and the

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

, until he reached

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

. He was rewarded for this expedition by the

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 ...

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 ...

Expedition of 1889

In 1889 Bonvalot was one of the first Europeans to visit the

Tibetan plateau The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...

. The expedition was financed by the

Duke of Chartres Originally, the Duchy of Chartres (''duché de Chartres'') was the ''comté'' de Chartres, a County. The title of comte de Chartres thus became duc de Chartres. This duchy–peerage was given by Louis XIV of France to his nephew, Philippe II ...

and his son,

Prince Henri of Orléans Prince Henri of Orléans (16 October 1867 – 9 August 1901) was the son of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres, and Princess Françoise of Orléans (1844–1925), Princess Françoise of Orléans. Biography Henri, the second eldest son and third ...

. who accompanied Bonvalot. Bonvalot's original plan was to cross

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and reach

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

. Bonvalot wanted to cross Europe and Russia by train and then continue on foot and horseback to the border with

Chinese Turkestan Chinese Turkestan or Chinese Turkistan, is a geographical term or historical region corresponding to the region of the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang (south of the Tian Shan mountain range) or Xinjiang as a whole which was under the rule of ...

. Bonvalot then wanted to be the first European to cross the

Gobi The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

and Lop Nor deserts. He thought that he could then cut across the Tibetan plateau and try to visit

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

, which had been closed to foreigners for the last half a century. Finally he intended to cross 1,700 kilometers of land in eastern Tibet that had been unexplored by Europeans until he reached

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, where he would travel down the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

to Indochina. In total his planned expedition was 9,500 kilometers and traversed lands that were still unknown to Europeans. Bonvalot was accompanied in his travels by a Belgian missionary, Father De Deken (1852–1896, who spoke Chinese and joined the expedition to reach

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

with his Chinese servant), an Uzbek assistant, Rachmed, who joined the expedition in Russia, Abdoullah a translator, and

, who acted as his photographer and botanist. The expedition began with relative comfort and did not become difficult until they reached the border between Russian and Chinese

Turkestan Turkestan,; ; ; ; also spelled Turkistan, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The region is located in the northwest of modern day China and to the northwest of its ...

. The group crossed into Chinese controlled territory and traveled through the

Ili River The Ili River (, , ; ; ; zh, 伊犁河, ; , ; , ) is a river in Northwest China and Southeastern Kazakhstan. It flows from the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to the Almaty Region in Kazakhstan. It ...

valley,

Tian Shan Mountains The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

, the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...

, and the Lop Nor. They then had to spend the winter in

. Bonvalot's expedition again coerced the population into providing horses and guides and even threatened the local commander with imprisonment. Just before they reached Lhasa, they were detained by officials of the Tibetan government. They were not allowed to enter Lhasa and Bonvalot's expedition was only allowed to continue its journey after lengthy negotiations. The group then continued traveling across the Tibetan Plateau to its eastern extremities. In June they finally reached

Kangding Kangding ( zh, c=康定), also known as Dartsedo (), is a county-level city and the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding is on the bank of the Dadu River and has been considered the his ...

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

controlled territory. They finally reached Hanoi in late September 1890.

Later career

Gabriel Bonvalot wanted by his expeditions financed by the French government in order to demonstrate French power in the eyes of the world. After a trip to French Algeria in 1893 Bonvalot embraced nationalism and became a fervent supporter of the idea of colonialism which was unanimously supported by the Republican politicians of that time and French colonists. In 1894 he founded the Comité Dupleix, a pro-colonialist organization. In 1898 Bonvalot launched an expedition to cross

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and join the Marchand expedition at

Fashoda Kodok or Kothok (), formerly known as Fashoda, is a town in the Fashoda County of Upper Nile (state), Upper Nile State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. Kodok is the capital of Shilluk people, Shilluk country, formally known as the ...

. But Bonvalot failed to obtain the cooperation of the Ethiopian emperor, Menilek II, and quit the expedition before they reached

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. In 1898 Bonvalot founded the journal '' La France de demain'' and remained the editor until 1904. He served as a deputy from

in the

Parliament of France The French Parliament (, ) is the bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (), and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: the Senate meets in the ...

from 1902 to 1906. From 1912 to 1920 Bonvalot was the mayor of

Brienne-le-Château Brienne-le-Château () is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France. It is located from the right bank of the river Aube and 26 miles northeast of Troyes. History It was the centre of the medieval County of Brienne, whose lo ...

in his home department of

.Brochure sur Brienne-le-Château, éditée par le Conseil général de l'Aube In 2005 an exhibition on the life of Bonvalot was organized in the library at Brienne-le-Château. Bonvalot died in Paris on 10 December 1933.

Publications

Most of his books were translated in English.
En Asie Centrale. De Moscou en Bactriane
(1884)
En Asie Centrale. Du Kohistan à la Caspienne
(1885)
Du Caucase aux Indes, à travers le Pamir
(1888)
Through the Heart of Asia Over the Pamir to India
(1889)
De Paris au Tonkin à travers le Tibet inconnu, ouvrage contenant cent huit illustrations d'après les photographies prises par le prince Henri d'Orléans
(1892)
L'Asie inconnue, à travers le Tibet
(1896)
Sommes-nous en décadence ?
(1899) * Propos d'un Français (1911) * Une lourde tâche (1913) * Voyages. Les Chercheurs de routes. Marco-Polo (1924)

In popular culture

Literature

* '' Race to Tibet'' by

Sophie Schiller Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

(2015)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonvalot, Gabriel 1853 births 1933 deaths People from Aube Politicians from Grand Est French nationalists Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French travel writers 19th-century French explorers Explorers of Central Asia 19th-century French writers 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers