Gaetano Casati
Gaetano Casati (born September 4, 1838 in Ponte d'Albiate in Lombardy , † March 7, 1902 in Cortenuova, district of Monticello ) was an Italian geographer, African explorer and author.
Life
After studying mathematics in Pavia , which he dropped out, Casati joined the Bersaglieri corps of the Piedmontese army in 1859 to volunteer in the Second Italian War of Independence . Then attended the infantry school in Ivrea and graduated with the rank of lieutenant . After using the Brigantenkrieg (Brigantaggio) against the Bourbon rebels in the mainland provinces of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicily he struggled in 1866 with the rank of captain (Captain) in the Third Italian War of Independence . From 1869 he was a teacher of mathematics and topography at the Bersaglieri School in Livorno . In 1879 he took his leave and joined the editorial team of the magazine "L'esploratore". In the same year, the editor-in-chief Manfredo Campiero (1826-1899) received a letter from his friend Romolo Gessi , currently Governor of Bahr al-Ghazal in the southern Sudanese Nile region, in which he asked for an experienced geographer to be sent to explore the Uele Valley. Casati took over this task, left Genoa on December 24, 1879 in commission of the "Società d'Esplorazione Commerciale d'Africa" and reached the town of Sawakin on the Suez Canal . By camel ride and sailing boat along the Nile, he finally reached the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, about 650 km south . With his financial resources already exhausted, he waited at the Comboni missionaries' office for permission to continue his journey. He explored the valley of Bahr-el-Ghazal and reached the city on July 4th, 1880. Here he met Romolo Gessi on August 26th. He returned to Karthum on September 16, a journey the strains of which overwhelmed his health and ultimately led to his death on April 30, 1881. Casati, although weakened by a fever, began his actual expedition to the equatorial region on November 14th. It initially led him further south, where he came across the grave of the Italian explorer Giovanni Miani (1810–1872) . After a stay in Tangasi, he was captured by Mambanga, king of the Mabisanga, and experienced further abuse by Azanga, king of the Megé. After his liberation, he finally returned to Tangasi. Here he came into conflict with the sluggish and corrupt administration until he was able to follow the governor of Equatorial Africa, Eduard Schnitzer - called Emin Pascha - to the capital Ladò in 1883.
During the Mahdi uprising , Muhammad Ahmad conquered Khartoum after a long siege and killed General Charles George Gordon in January 1885. The uprising continued to spread to the border of the area controlled by Emin Pasha. Casati tried to continue his exploration of the area and reached Bunyoro in May 1886 , which was ruled by a tribal prince named Kabalega . As a result, he was captured again in the Kingdom of Kabba Rega, was sentenced to death, but escaped to Lake Albert , where he was able to rejoin Emin Pascha. In December 1889 he reached the coast with Emin Pasha and Henry Morton Stanley and on July 10, 1890 Naples. After a formal welcome in Milan, he retired to Monza to write his travel report. In 1890 he was promoted to major and settled in Monticello. He was elected mayor here and remained in office until his death. He died in Cortenuova at the age of 63 and was buried in the Triuggio Cemetery in Monticello.
Casati reported to the "Esploratore" whenever possible during his stay in Africa. Since his notes burned in Africa, he had to write them down a second time. He was accepted as an honorary member of the “Reale Società Geografica Italiana” and was awarded a gold medal. His travelogue “Dieci anni in Equatoria e ritorno con Emin Pascià del maggiore Gaetano Casati” was published in 1891 in two volumes with maps, drawings and photographs, meteorological data and a comparative “table of the languages of Dinka, Morù, Mambettu, Bamba, Sandeh, Bari , Lur “in Milan and appeared in German in the same year in the CC Buchner bookstore in Bamberg, translated by Karl von Reinhardstöttner . It formed the basis for the novel "Mal d'Africa" by Riccardo Bacchelli , published in 1934 , in which Casati is the protagonist.
literature
- Maria Carazzi: Casati, Gaetano. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 21: Caruso – Castelnuovo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1978.
- F. Gessi: A map of the eastern watershed of the Kibali-Makua-Welle-Obangi. From the itineraries of Dr. W. Junker & Major Casati. Frederick Warne & Co., London, around 1890.
- F. Gessi: Map of the characteristics of the Kibali-Maqua-Uelle-Ubangi-Thales drawn from photographs by W. Junker and G. Casati; Travel route of Captain Casati 1880–1888, G. Miani, Becker and Roget. Berlin, around 1890.
- HP: Emin Pascha and Casati , in: Die Gartenlaube, Illustrirtes Familienblatt. Year 1891, pp. 141-133. With a portrait of Casati.
- Major Casati on Emin Pascha's last days , in: Communications of the Geographical Society in Vienna. Volume 37, Vienna (1894), pp. 68-71.
- H. Jaeger: The Stanley expedition and its clients. Critically examined after the reports of Casati, Emin Pascha, Peters, Jephson and Stanley. Manz & Lange, Hannover-Linden 1891.
- Gaetano Casati, Heinrich Bertholdy: In the heart of the dark part of the world; ten years in Equatoria. For wider circles and the more mature youth. CB Griesbach, Gera 1895.
- Paola Ivanov: Cannibals, warriors, conquerors, and colonizers. Western perceptions and Azande historiography , in: History in Africa. 29, 2002, pp. 89-217.
A comprehensive list of publications and a bibliography can be found on the Italian Wikipedia.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Place in the (Turkish) Egyptian Sudan, on the (White) Nile (Bahr el-Jebel); Founded in 1875 by Charles Gordon, the former capital of the former Egyptian Equatorial Province
- ^ "Omukama" by Bunyoro in Uganda, 1870 to 1899
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Casati, Gaetano |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian geographer, African explorer and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 4, 1838 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ponte d'Albiate |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 7, 1902 |
| Place of death | Cortenuova, district of Monticello |