Marcel Treich-Laplène

Marcel Treich-Laplène

Marcel Treich-Laplène (born June 24, 1860 in Ussel , Corrèze department , † March 9, 1890 in front of Grand-Bassam ) was a French explorer and is considered the founder of the French colony of Ivory Coast .

biography

Treich-Laplène came from a wealthy family. His father was a notary and managed the official business of the community. He spent his school days in Christian schools throughout. First he attended a primary school run by Padres . The secondary school was a Jesuit school in Poitiers . He graduated there in 1878. After finishing school, he did his military service. For this he was employed in the colonial administration in Algeria . Only during a campaign in the south of Oran did he belong to the artillery as a non-commissioned officer.

After his military service ended, he returned to France in 1882. His father had died while he was away on Mayotte and, following his father, he began to study law at La Rochelle College . However, this quickly bored him. When a friend of the family, the then prefect of the Charente department , introduced him to the merchant and shipowner Arthur Verdier , he and Treich-Laplène quickly came to an agreement. Treich-Laplène became the overseer of his plantation in Elima , which belonged to Assini . In the same year Treich-Laplène undertook his first small expedition. Since there were no harvest workers on the plantation, he was supposed to recruit indigenous workers in the hinterland, which consisted of impassable jungle. Whenever Verdier was not on site, which often happened due to his role as resident of the Grand-Bassam naval base , Treich-Laplène was given responsibility for the Assini protectorate. In this capacity, he also monitored the movements of the British colonial forces and reported regularly to Grand-Bassam.

To secure the colonial claims, he was commissioned in 1887 to undertake an expedition inland. In addition to Treich-Laplène, two translators, five snipers from the Assinian militia, fifteen porters and three servants for his personal needs belonged to the expedition corps, all of them native. Starting from Krinjabo , the route first led to Aboisso , the most well-known place furthest from the coast. The next stage was Diangui , now Ayamé , followed by Abengourou and Yacassé in the Comoé basin . Always towards Bondoukou . He negotiated treaties with three regional kings for the eastern areas of the Ivory Coast, which were supposed to consolidate French supremacy.

After this three-month expedition, which he completed despite illness, Treich-Laplène returned briefly to France to visit his mother and sisters. There he received an award from the Société de Topographie de France . He was also invited to an audience with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Navy Eugéne Étienne , where he presented a map of his expedition. The contracts signed by the tribal chiefs were also handed over on this occasion.

When Louis-Gustave Binger got stuck with his expedition to secure the territorial claims in the eastern part of Ivory Coast in 1888, Treich-Laplène was commissioned with a return mission. However, Binger's rescue was delayed by Treich-Laplène's unstable health. Preparations for this second expedition only began in August 1888. The expedition corps, including Treich-Laplène as the only white man, was 45 men strong and consisted of nine militiamen, two non-commissioned officers, porters, couriers and translators. At the beginning of September the squad left Elima on the route known from the first exploration. In order to advance more quickly, part of the route was covered with pierogi on Lac D'Ayamé . In January 1889 he met Louis-Gustave Binger in Bondoukou. The two continued the expedition in the east and were able to conclude several contracts with tribal and city leaders. For this he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

At the end of the expedition, Treich-Laplène embarked for France to cure his illness there, but returned that same year as he was appointed civil administrator of Grand-Bassam and the contracted areas. He is considered the first colonial administrator of the Ivory Coast through territorial claims that he has established. Because of his function and merits, he is considered the founder of Ivory Coast, although his successor, Binger, who later became the colony's first governor, is often referred to as the founder.

In 1890 there were riots in Jacqueville . Treich-Laplène undertook a punitive expedition from which he returned so weakened that he was immediately taken to a ship for France. On board this ship, the Ville de Maceio , he died of the haemorrhagic fever that had afflicted him since the first expedition . Buried in Bassam, his body was later transferred to Ussel, his hometown.

Honors

• Medal of the Société de Topographie de France
• Knight of the Legion of Honor
• The place Treichville is named after him.
• A street in La Rochelle and in his hometown bears his name.
• In La Rochelle there is a monument ( aux Éléphants ) on which he is immortalized with Arthur Verdier and Amédée Brétignère .
• In 1952 a stamp was issued with his bust.

literature

• Alfred Martineau: Revue d'histoire des colonies, Volume 36, Societé de l'histoire des colonies Francaises, Paris 1949
• Un Enfant d'Ussel, l'explorateur Marcel Treich-Laplène (Mémoires et documents sur le Bas-Limousin) , Musée du Pays d'Ussel , 1989, ISBN 978-2903920067

Web links

• Information on Marcel Treich-Laplène in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Aux temps héroïques de la Côte d'Ivoire, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , page 124, accessed on May 13, 2016
2. ↑ Article with picture in Sudouest.fr , accessed on May 20, 2015
3. ^ Postes de Republique France: Postage stamp , accessed on May 20, 2016
4. ^ Revue d'histoire des colonies . Page 87ff, accessed on May 20, 2016