Giovanni Miani (explorer)

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Giovanni Miani
Bust of Giovanni Miani in the Accademia dei Concordi, Rovigo

Giovanni Miani (born March 17, 1810 in Rovigo ⊙ in the Veneto region , Italy ; † November 21, 1872 near Nangazizi ⊙ , Democratic Republic of the Congo ) was an Italian explorer .

Life

Childhood and youth

Miani was born the son of the maid Maddalena Miani. Some sources also give March 19 as his date of birth. His father was unknown. Maddalena Miani's brother Giovanni was the architect of the Venice Arsenal . Your other brother Guglielmo was the father of General Antonio Miani (1864-1933), who in Eritreakrieg (1886-1889) and the Ethiopian Italian War (1895-1896) received high awards and for his achievements in the fight for the Fezzan in Libya that Croce di Cavaliere dell'Ordine militare di Savoia .

Miani's mother Maddalena hired herself out to the Italian nobleman PA Bragadin in Venice ⊙ . She initially left her son Giovanni Miani with her family, who wanted to train him as a wood carver. From 1824 Maddalena brought her son to Venice in the Bragadin house. There he received a very good education in music, language, dance, drawing and martial arts, supported by Bragadin. When his patron Bragadin died in 1828, Miani inherited 18,000 lire.

Preoccupation with music

Miani's mother died in 1837. Miani continued his music studies at the various conservatories in Bologna ⊙ , Milan ⊙ , Naples ⊙ , Paris ⊙ and Spain . In Spain Miani met Ferdinand de Lesseps . He composed a hymn for General Baldomero Espartero and the piece of music Un torneo a Tolemaide , published in Venice in 1843. Then Miani began to write a universal history of the music of all nations . To do this, he traveled to different countries for 20 years in search of musical instruments and their traditions. After all, he had used all the money he owned on this venture.

Participation in the Risorgimento

At the same time, Miani took part politically in the Risorgimento . As early as 1848, the Austrian police put him on a list of the monitored and suspicious people . Miani joined the volunteers around General Andrea Ferrari (1770-1849). This troop took part in the fighting for the Roman Republic (1849) in the First Italian War of Independence . Miani was assigned to the artillery as the first gunner with the rank of sergeant major . As such, he took part in the defense of Marghera ⊙ and the Fort of San Secondo ⊙ . In 1849 Miani was accused of conspiracy against General Amilcare Paulucci (1773-1845) and the weak defense of the fort and was thrown in Rialto Prison ⊙ . He was expelled to Ravenna ⊙ . There he tried unsuccessfully to rejoin the artillery and the fighters around Daniele Manin .

Change from music to exploring the Nile and its sources

Eventually he moved to Malta ⊙ . There he worked as a music and singing teacher and continued work on his music history. Then he moved to Constantinople ⊙ , where he found a job as a tenor at the theater and started composing again.

He visited Palestine and went to Cairo for a year ⊙ . In Egypt, Miani traveled to Sinai ⊙ and conducted archaeological and philological studies. He earned his living as a tutor for the Lucovich family and as the director of an experimental rice farm.

Miani met the engineer Ermete Pierotti in Egypt in 1853 . He persuaded Pierotti to support him financially, which the latter did for some time. Then the two got into an argument and Pierotti refused to give Miani any more money. Miani retaliated by tracking down the documents about Pierotti's conviction (for desertion and theft) in Genoa ⊙ and disseminating them through the press. This seriously damaged Miani Pierotti's reputation. As a result, these documents were repeatedly used against Pierotti by various people.

Returning to Italy, Miani managed to raise 40,000 francs to continue his musical history. However, he did not find a publisher, either in Paris or in London ⊙ , that would have been willing to publish this work.

Miani returned to Egypt and studied Arabic, astronomy, topography and science there. His new project was to discover the sources of the Niles.

Journey on the Nile to Nubia 1857–1860

In 1857 he set out for Nubia with the French G. Revol from Lyon and A. Poussel from Avignon ⊙ . He drew a map of the region he traveled and wrote down his observations. He enclosed documents from other explorers and reports from seafarers, merchants, hunters and missionaries. He had this work printed in Paris the following year and presented it to Napoleon III. He sent a copy to the Société de Géographie in Paris of which he became a member.

Places of Miani's Nile expeditions (underlined) on a section of the Africa map by Edward Hertslet from 1909

First Nile expedition to Khartoum in 1859

In 1859 Miani made another trip to Africa. On May 10th, he left Cairo on two boats and went up the Nile. He was accompanied by A. Poussel, a naval captain in charge of astronomical research, a photographer, a painter and an Arabic-French translator. They first drove to Aswan ⊙ , passed the 1st cataract ⊙ by land, continued on ships behind Wadi Halfa ⊙ and crossed the desert on camels and dromedaries to Dongola ⊙ . Then they used ships again and followed the Nile through the Bayuda Desert ⊙ . On July 20th they reached Omdurman ⊙ , the port of Khartoum ⊙ on the White Nile .

In Khartoum Miani met the French medic and explorer Alfred Peney (1817–1861), who lived there and also researched the sources of the Nile. He also met the wealthy Maltese merchant Andrea Debono there. Miani tried to convince the two of them to try to reach Gondokoro ⊙ together with him . He suggested they set up another trading post there.

From September 20 to November 7, 1859, Miani, Debono, Peney and his wife and son went on an excursion on the Blue Nile to Sannar ⊙ . They were accompanied by a clerk and four soldiers.

On December 5th, Miani continued his search for the sources of the Nile.

He reached Santa Croce in Sudd ⊙ on January 9, 1860 . As the course of the White Nile in the Sudd is constantly changing, the exact location of Santa Croce is unknown. Some assume that it is today's settlement Kenisa (German: Church) ⊙ . Others suspect a point of Pan Nhom where there is a small chapel. Daniele Comboni reached Santa Croce on February 14, 1858, along with 5 other missionaries. The climate and diseases forced the small group to return to Italy on January 15, 1859.

From Santa Croce, Miani went on to Gondokoro, where he arrived on January 24th. The Austrian missionary Ignacij Knoblehar set up a mission station in Gondokoro in 1853, but it was abandoned in 1858 because of the climate and disease.

Miani was unable to overcome the Makedo waterfalls ⊙ 76 km south of Gondokoro. He also felt sick and weak. Therefore he returned to Gondokoro for a longer break.

Then he marched south with 100 men on the right side of the Nile and reached Galuffi ⊙ on March 26, 1860 , which is now (2020) called Nimule .

On his way to Galuffi, Miani discovered the Achwa River (also: Assua River, Aswa River) ⊙ . This is a right tributary of the White Nile, which flows into the White Nile about 20 km northwest of Nimule.

In Galuffi (= Nimule), Miani cut his name into the bark of the large tamarind in the village. At this time Miani had a fever and diarrhea, it rained heavily, his escort team refused to go any further and the natives were hostile to him. All of this moved him to return to Khartoum where he arrived on May 22nd, 1860. He reached Sawakin gelang on the Red Sea ⊙ by the end of July . Here he met the explorer Carlo Piaggia . He arrived in Cairo on August 24, 1860. In Cairo, he lay on the sick bed for a month to heal a wound on his left foot. During this time he published his travelogue and sent copies of it to all geographical societies in Europe. He also sent an extract and a map of his route to the Egyptian foreign minister. Thereupon the viceroy took over the patronage and guaranteed Miani money, resources and means of transport for further activities.

Second Nile expedition 1860–1861

On December 2, 1860, Miani began his second Nile expedition. He went on a steamer from Bulaq ⊙ , the port of Cairo, to Esna ⊙ . Participants in his expedition were the Maltese G. Portelli, responsible for astronomical observations, the painter Damin, who was to paint landscapes and costumes, and 150 soldiers escorted. On December 25, 1860, the group arrived in Aswan. She bypassed the cataract and embarked again off the island of Philae ⊙ . On January 17, 1861, she reached Wadi-Halfa. The group was followed by a caravan with 30 camels and numerous servants. With the help of a guide, they overcame the cataracts and reached Dongola. From ad-Dabba ⊙ , the port of the Bayuda Desert, they went to Omdurman. Here Miani was forced to dismiss G. Potelli. He had stolen corals and amber from the expedition and sold them in the bazaar. He also tried to poison Miani.

In the meantime, Miani received the news that Peney and de Bono had gone from Khartoum to Gondokoro in November to reach the sources of the Nile. In Gondokoro, however, the natives had refused to support the two because they would rather wait for Miani, their "White Lion". Peney died of malaria in Gondokoro on July 26, 1861, and de Bono brought Peney's wife back to Cairo.

Because of an accumulation of adversities (the last part of Miani's diary was lost due to a ship accident, the painter Damin left him, the expedition was hindered by Müdür Hasan Bey) Miani broke off the expedition and returned to Cairo. There he learned that John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant were on an expedition to the Nile sources sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society . Miani left Cairo on October 6, 1861 and returned to Europe.

Speke, Burton, Grant, Baumann, Waldecker and the discovery of the Nile springs

Speke and Richard Francis Burton had already discovered Lake Tanganyika ⊙ on February 13, 1858 , which they believed to be the source of the Nile. Then they separated and Speke discovered Lake Victoria on August 3, 1858 ⊙ , which he now believed to be the source of the Nile. The two researchers were at odds over this question. In reality, Lake Tanganyika drains over the Lukuga ⊙ into the Congo ⊙ and is part of its river system . The expedition of Speke and Grant 1860–1863 led from Zanzibar ⊙ to Lake Victoria and from there to Gondokoro, which Speke believed to prove his view that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile. In reality, Lake Victoria is fed by the Kagera Nile ⊙ , the southernmost source of which is considered to be the true source of the Nile ⊙ . It was discovered by Oskar Baumann in 1893 and geographically determined by Burkhart Waldecker in 1937 .

Preparation of the third Nile expedition

Miani went to Florence ⊙ in the fall of 1861 , where he exhibited his collections. He then went to Turin ⊙ and published a short travelogue with a map there in 1862, published by Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun . He also visited Paris, London and Venice. In Venice he received 1,000 guilders from the Venetian government for his collection of 1,800 objects in 14 boxes. This collection ended up in the museum of Teodoro Correr .

In October 1862, Miani proposed to the Venice Chamber of Commerce to set up a trading post in Kartum. There you can exchange Venetian pearls for ivory at great profit.

In 1863 Miani was invited to Vienna ⊙ by the Austrian Geographical Society . There he was received with great honor. Emperor Franz Joseph I initially promised him the financing of a new expedition. This failed, however, when the news came that Speke and Grant had discovered the sources of the Nile. It also found that Miani's maps were inaccurate. Franz Joseph I nevertheless offered Miani 1000 guilders, which Miani used to return to Egypt.

In January 1864, Miani published a map on which he also depicted the journey of Speke and Grant. He dedicated this card to Ismail Pasha , governor and later viceroy of Egypt. In this and other publications, Miani denied that Speke and Grant had found the real source of the Nile.

Also in 1864, Miani and his friend Georg Schweinfurth visited the Istmus of Sues .

In 1865 Victor Emanuel II , King of Italy awarded him the Knightly Order of St. Mauritius and Lazarus .

Miani raised money from various sources for a third Nile expedition. He received support from Viktor Emanuel II, from Muhammad Sharif Pascha , from 1879 on several times Prime Minister of the Khedivat Egypt and from Abdülaziz , Sultan of the Ottomans . Muhammad Sharif Pasha granted him a steamboat. The Royal Geographical Society also asked him to help find the English explorer Samuel White Baker . Miani received further funds from the governor of Sudan, who commissioned him to look after the zoo and promised him 10 monthly salaries. Miani did research for several European museums and carried out occasional work on behalf of merchants and business surveys on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce. He made a contract with a company engaged in the search for ivory in Monbuttu - Country ⊙ was interested.

Third Nile Expedition, 1871

Miani began his third Nile expedition on May 15th in Khartoum. First he went to Shambe (Gaba-Sciambil) ⊙ on some boats . He was stuck there for three months. Then he continued the expedition in a caravan to the west. He traveled through the villages of Lao, Farial, Mittu and Mondu. In 1872 he arrived in Monfa exhausted. There he waited two months for supplies. When he arrived he wandered on to Amamba in the small kingdom of the Sultan Kuffa. Here the caravan received food again after a long fast.

He crossed the Gada (Gadda) ⊙ Then through Abissenga and the Sultanate of Mangia, then through Angaria. On July 3, 1872, he arrived in Bakangoi ⊙ .

Now his companions refused to follow him any further. Miani turned back to Uelle and returned to Munsi's residence in Tangasi ⊙ . Here he died on November 21, 1872, exhausted, weakened by diarrhea and necrosis on his arm. His place of death ⊙ is about 3 degrees north latitude on a tributary of the Uelle between Uelle and Bomokandi, about 18 km southwest of Niangara ⊙ .

Munsa, Miani's friend, cut off Miani's beard after his death and hung it around his neck. In this way he believed he could keep Miani's mind to himself. Munsa wrapped Miani's body in a blanket and buried it, along with his pipe and tobacco pot, in a rough wooden box that was locked with four nails that were specially forged for this purpose. However, the tomb was robbed by natives shortly afterwards.

Miani's grave was found in 1881 by Gaetano Casati and in 1929 by Lidio Cipriani (1892–1962).

In 1879 Romolo Gessi collected the remaining bones. They were brought to Rovigo and are kept in the museum of the Accademia dei Concordi ⊙ .

Honors

In 1865 Victor Emanuel II , King of Italy awarded Miani the Knightly Order of St. Mauritius and Lazarus . A bust of Miani stands in the entrance area of ​​the Accademia dei Concordi in Rovigo. In Rome ⊙ , Genoa ⊙ , Padua ⊙ , Vicenza ⊙ , Lecce ⊙ , Rovigo, Andria ⊙ , streets were named after Miani.

Works

  • Diari e carteggi (1858–1872) . Longanesi, Milan, 1973.
  • Il viaggio di Giovanni Miani al Monbuttu: note coordinate dalla Società geografica italiana . Giuseppe Civelli, Rome 1875.
  • Nouvelle carte du Bassin du Nile: indiquant la commune origine de ce Fleuve avec les rivières du Zanguebar . Kaeppelin et Cie, Paris 1858.
  • Un torneo a Tolemaide: miscellanea poetica . Andreola, Venice 1843.

literature

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Miani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Miani, Giovanni at treccani.it. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Francesco Surdich:  Giovanni Miani. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
  3. ↑ a b c Miani, Giovanni at treccani.it. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  4. ↑ Miani, Giovanni at d-nb.info. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  5. ↑ a b c Jean-Yves Legouas: Saving Captain Pierotti? In: Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Volume 145, 2013, pp. 231-250, doi : 10.1179 / 0031032813Z.00000000047
  6. ↑ JJ Egli: The discovery of the Niquellen in the quarterly journal of the Natural Research Society, Zurich, 1867, pp. 41, 47, 48 Nile sources . Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  7. ↑ Pellegrinaggio comboniano alla prima di missione Comboni in South Sudan at comboni.org. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  8. ↑ South Sudan at comboni.org. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  9. ^ The Nimule-Juba Reach of the Nile at documents1.worldbank.org. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  10. ↑ Giovanni Miani at egittoveneto.veneto.eu. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Miani, Giovanni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian explorer
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Rovigo
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1872
Place of death Near Nangazizi, Democratic Republic of the Congo