Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DOUVILLE, JEAN BAPTISTE (1794?-1837)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 451 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DOUVILLE, See also:JEAN See also:BAPTISTE (1794?-1837) , See also:French traveller, was See also:born at Hambye, in the See also:department of See also:Manche. Having at an See also:early See also:age inherited a See also:fortune, he decided to gratify his See also:taste for See also:foreign travel. According to his own profession he visited See also:India, See also:Kashmir, See also:Khorasan, See also:Persia, See also:Asia See also:Minor and many parts of See also:Europe. In 1826 he went to See also:South See also:America, and in 1827 See also:left See also:Brazil for the Portuguese possessions on the See also:west See also:coast of See also:Africa, where his presence in See also:March 1828 is proved by the mention made of him in letters of See also:Castillo See also:Branco; the See also:governor-See also:general of See also:Loanda. In May 1831 he reappeared in See also:France, claiming to have pushed his explorations into the very See also:heart of central Africa. His See also:story was readily accepted by the Societe de Geographie of See also:Paris, which hastened. to recognize his services by assigning him the See also:great See also:gold See also:medal, and appointing him their secretary for the See also:year 1832. On the publication of his narrative, Voyage au See also:Congo et dans l'interieur de l'Afrique equinoxiale, which occupied three volumes and was accompanied by an elaborate See also:atlas, public See also:enthusiasm ran high. Before the year 1832 was out, however, it was established that Douville's Voyage was See also:romance and not verity. He had probably been inspired by the See also:appearance of Rene Caillie's See also:account of his See also:journey to See also:Timbuktu, and wished to obtain a See also:share of the fame attaching to See also:African explorers. Douville tried vainly to establish the truth of his story in Ma Defense (1832), and Trente mois de ma See also:vie, ou quinze mois avant et quinze mois arres mon voyage au Congo (1833). Mlle Audrun, a See also:lady to whom he was about to be married, committed See also:suicide from grief at the disgrace; and the adventurer withdrew in 1833 to Brazil, and proceeded to make explorations in the valley of the See also:Amazon. According to Dr G.

See also:

Gardner, in his Travels in the Interior of Brazil (1846), he was murdered in 1837 on the See also:banks of the Sao Francisco for charging too high for his medical assistance. Douville may well have explored See also:part of the See also:province of See also:Angola, and See also:Sir See also:Richard See also:Burton maintained that the Frenchman's descriptions of the See also:country of the Congo were See also:life-like; that his observations on the See also:anthropology, ceremonies, customs and maladies of the See also:people were remarkably accurate; and that even the native words used in his narrative were " for the most part given with unusual correctness." It has been shown, however, that the See also:chief source of Douville's See also:inspiration was a number of unpublished Portuguese See also:manuscripts to which he had See also:access.

End of Article: DOUVILLE, JEAN BAPTISTE (1794?-1837)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DOUSA, JANUS [Jan van der Does] 		[next]
DOUW (or Dow), GERHARD (1613168o)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries