Starting from Libreville (in present-day Gabon) in 1897, the Marchand expedition spent 14 arduous months crossing largely uncharted regions of north central Africa.
They finally reached the fort of Fashoda on the upper Nile on July 10, 1898, and hoisted the French flag.
News of the encounter was relayed to Paris and London and each side accused the other of expansionism and aggression.
A stalemate (the Fashoda Incident) continued until November 3 when French Foreign Minister Théophile Delcassé, fearing the possibility of war, withdrew Marchand and his troops and ceded the Sudan to the British.
Some 45,000 porters struggled over 2000 miles to achieve the conquest, carrying hundreds of tons of supplies.