Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza and the Exploration of Central Africa - Part 1/4

The Explorers Podcast

Matt Breen

Society & Culture, History, Education

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the first part of our series on Italian-born Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, we take a look at the world of Central Africa circa 1875, including the institution of slavery, and scramble by European powers to explore - and claim the continent. Brazza goes from the son of an Italian noble family, to being an officer in the French navy. He will then prepare to lead an expedition into the African interior - at the age of only 23. Website: https://explorerspodcast.com/brazza/ Map: https://explorerspodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/ogowe1.png People and Places Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza - Born in Italy, but educated in France. Would join the French navy, and become interested in exploring Africa. Louis de Montaignac - French admiral who would help Brazza gain admittance into the naval academy. Libraville - French outpost in what is modern-day Gabon. Ogowe River (often spelled Ogooué or Ogoway) - River in central Africa that Brazza would explore. Noël Ballay - Doctor on Brazza's first expedition to Africa. Antoine-Alfred Marche - Naturalist on Brazza's first expedition to Africa. Victor Hamon - Naval officer who would be the quartermaster on Brazza's first expedition to Africa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an airwave media podcast. Let us
0:15.0	Hello and
0:20.0	Hello and welcome to the Explorers Podcast. Today we start a new series, this one on a man that most people have not heard of, but who is a rather remarkable person.
0:26.4	Our subject is Pierre Savignon de Braza, a man who would explore Central Africa in the latter decades of the 20th century and be hailed as France's greatest explorer.
0:36.0	Braza would not only be known for his explorations, but for his humane and thoughtful approach to dealing with the African peoples that he encountered.
0:44.3	It is a stark contrast to some of his contemporaries, such as Henry Morton Stanley, who essentially
0:48.9	shot his way across Africa.
0:51.5	Braz's approach would bring him scorn from some quarters and outright disdain. Africa. But before we get going today, some
1:05.3	notes for you. First thing, as always, you can refer to the show notes and website explorers
1:10.6	podcast.com for maps and photos and resources on the series.
1:14.3	Second thing, we are dealing with the French language in this series so my apologies
1:18.8	for the bad pronunciations and there will be a lot of them.
1:21.7	And related to that the pronunciations of the many names of people and places that we will encounter is often different depending on the source.
1:30.0	One book might use the French name, and another it might be an English translation, and in yet another you'll find an African name.
1:36.7	No matter, I will try and stick with one pronunciation and spelling throughout the series.
1:41.5	Now that said, I know I'll have some inconsistencies with regard to the
1:45.4	star of our series and that is because Braza is Italian by birth meaning it's pronounced
1:50.6	more like Bratza and I'll try to say that when referring to his family.
1:55.1	However, Brasa would later become a French citizen, and the pronunciation I found tends to be
1:59.7	Braza, which is what I will use when talking about our star. Not a huge deal but I just wanted to point it out.
2:06.0	Third thing, and this is not related to this series, I want to let everyone know that I have launched a Patreon program for the podcast. If you like the show,
2:14.7	want to continue getting three to four episodes a month and can offer some support that would be
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