Jacques Lebaudy

Jacques Lebaudy (born May 13, 1868 in Paris , † January 11, 1919 on Long Island , New York ) was a French adventurer.

"Emperor of the Sahara"

The French financial and real estate heir Jacques Lebaudy landed on June 12, 1903 with his two-master Frasquita and a crew of 26 at Cape Juby on the coast of Western Sahara . This area between Cape Noun and Cape Bojador , which is only populated by a few Berbers , had not yet been claimed by any colonial power. Lebaudy declared himself Emperor of the Sahara , Jacques I , in front of his team and founded Troy , the capital of his new empire , leaving behind his equipment and five crew members . 80 km further Lebaudy landed again on the coast and founded Lebaudy Polis as another city by burying a can of tuna on the beach .

plans

• Delivery of a prefabricated palace from England
• Construction of a mooring and fortification system
• Construction of a railway line to Timbuktu

National emblem

• White standard with three golden bees , a Napoleonic symbol

cabinet

• Baussy, Minister of Public Works

media

• Journal Officiel de l'Empire du Sahara, published in London

Setbacks

• The inhabitants of Troy settlement left behind were kidnapped by Berbers
• After Lebaudy's return to the Canary Islands , Spanish and French lawyers revoked the sailing permits and confiscated the yacht
• An attempt to appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague was unsuccessful
• Negotiations with England , Morocco and the Ottoman Empire were undiplomatic and fruitless on the part of Lebaudy

Sickness and death

After his failure, Lebaudy himself was admitted to a New York mental hospital, which he left after a few years. After his return, he was shot dead by his wife when he expressed a wish to marry his own 14-year-old daughter.

literature

• Paolo Novaresio and Gianni Guadalupi: Sahara - the fascination of the desert. Karl Müller Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-89893-077-7 .
• Philippe Di Folco: L'empereur du Sahara. Biography. Galaade, Paris 2014, ISBN 978-2-35176-251-6

Web links

• Articles with "national flag" (Engl.)