Antonio Cecchi

Antonio Cecchi

Antonio Cecchi (born January 18, 1849 in Pesaro ( Italy ), † November 26, 1896 in Mogadishu ) was an Italian explorer , naval officer and Africa explorer.

Live and act

Antonio Cecchi received his nautical training in Pesaro and later came to Trieste and Venice , where he earned the degree of Capitano di lungo corso and a gold medal. In 1877 the Società Geografica Italiana equipped an expedition led by Orazio Antinori (1811-1882) to Shoah ( Abyssinia ) in what is now Ethiopia , in which Cecchi took part. From there he set off with his compatriot Giovanni Chiarini (1849–1879) to advance to Lake Victoria via Kassa . But already in the land of the Gera , south of the Shoah, they were taken prisoner on the orders of the queen. Chiarini succumbed to the suffering of captivity in Kialla , Cecchi was freed after a few months through Gustavo Bianchis (1845-1884) mediation. After overcoming numerous dangers, he returned in 1882.

In January 1885 he broke with an Italian military expedition led by Tancredi Salettas (1840-1909) to Massaua and went to Zanzibar in March to conclude a ship and trade agreement with the local Sultan Barghasch ibn Saʿīd . It should also the mouth of the Jubilees and the main variety of Swahili - Benadir explore -Küste what he the Italian Consul General in Aden was appointed. He returned to Italy in November 1885. Since 1894 Consul General in Zanzibar, Cecchi was ambushed as the leader of a small research expedition near Mogadishu on the Benadir coast of Somal and killed with several of his companions.

“It was thanks to him to have given the first detailed description of the small Galla states. But both travelers had studied the different peoples and their languages ​​with particular care. "

- Henze

Fonts (selection)

• Since Zeila alle frontiere del Caffa . Loecscher, Rome 1886/87 (3 vol.)
  • German translation: Travel through the southern border countries of Abyssia from Zeila to Kaffa. Five years in East Africa . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1888 (translated and abbreviated by Martha Rumbauer ).
• L'Abissinia settentrionale e le strade che vi conducono da Massaua. Note a corredo di due grandi carte geographic redatte in base alle piu recenti scoperte . 4th edition Treves, Milan 1887.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , Vol. 3 . Leipzig 1905.