1799 - Rene-Auguste Caillie

Rene Auguste Caillie (1799-1838), a French explorer, was born (November 19).

René-Auguste Caillié, (b. November 19, 1799, Mauzé, near La Rochelle, France — d. c. 1838, La Badère), was the first European to survive a journey to the West African city of Timbuktu (Tombouctou).

Before Caillié was 20 he had twice voyaged to Senegal and traveled through its interior. In 1824 he began to prepare for his journey to Timbuktu by learning Arabic and studying Islam.

Caillie traveled through part of Upper Guinea to Timbuktu in 1824-1828. His accounts of this journey, published in 1830, whetted the European appetite for further exploration.

Born in Mauze, France, Caillie traveled to Senegal at the age of 16 where, among other things, he carried supplies to the Gray-Dochard expedition in Bondu. After a stay in France and Guadeloupe, Caillie returned to Senegal, determined to get to Timbuktu. Toward this end, he spent eight months with the Brakna Maure learning Arabic and being educated as a Muslim. Dressed as a Muslim and stating that he was an Arab from Egypt who had been enslaved by Christians, he started inland from Kakundi on April 19, 1827, and traveled across Guinea to Kourousa and then to Kong with Manding trade caravans. For five months, he was delayed by illness in the village of Tieme, located near present day Odienne in the northern Ivory Coast. The illness he suffered from was probably scurvy.

In January, 1828, he traveled overland with a caravan that was heading northeastward over present day southern Mali, passing Sienso near the town of San. He arrived in Djenne in March, 1828. After a short stay, he traveled down the Niger River toward Timbuktu and reached Lake Debo on April 2, 1828. On April 20, 1828, Caillie entered Timbuktu, where he remained until May 4. Then, joining a caravan that was crossing the Sahara, he reached Fegou on August 12, 1828, went on to Tangiers and returned to France. Caillie was the first European known to reach Timbuktu and return alive. He also was the first to write a detailed description of the city.