Parfait-Louis Monteil

Parfait-Louis Monteil (1855 – 29 September 1925) was a French colonial military officer and explorer who made an epic journey in West Africa between 1890 and 1892, travelling east from Senegal to Lake Chad, and then north across the Sahara to Tripoli.

[3] He then spent time investigating a railway project to link Bafoulabé and Bamako in Senegal, before launching on his great journey across West Africa in 1890.

[3] Monteil set out eastwards, generally obtaining a friendly reception and signing treaties of friendship, although suffering from heat, mosquitos and lack of drinking water.

Monteil praised the caravan center at San, saying that transactions could be made in total security, with no duties levied on imports, exports or sales.

Monteil started to negotiate a treaty with the followers of Issa, son of the Amiirou and next in line, but the Amiirous's nephew Sori managed to gain the support needed to become the next ruler.

Further, he found little evidence that the Royal Niger Company was present in the region as claimed, apart from some trading posts in the Gwandu Emirate to the south of Argundu.

[3] On 9 April 1892 he reached Kuka on the shore of the lake, where he was met by a group of 150 cavalrymen arrayed in colorful costumes, with their horses dressed in padded caparisons.

[15] The successful expedition across West Africa impressed the statesman Théophile Delcassé, who took Monteil to meet the President of France, Sadi Carnot on 4 May 1893.

Carnot wanted Monteil to undertake an expedition to Fashoda on the upper Nile, but on 30 May Delcassé sent him to the French Congo to reinforce Haut-Oubangui (now the Central African Republic) against Belgian intrusions.

[17] In September 1894 he directed an expedition into Baoulé country in the Ivory Coast, reaching Tiassalé in December before being turned back by fierce opposition north of the city.