Brazza, Pierre Paul Francois Camille Savorgnan, Comte de (1852–1905)

French explorer and administrator, the founder of the French Congo. Here he secured large tracts of land for France and established many stations. He was governor of the French dependency of the Congo 1886–98.

Of Italian birth, he was born on board ship in Rio de Janeiro harbour, Brazil. He explored the Ogooué River region in 1875–78, and later received from the French government 100,000 francs for exploration in the French interest in the Congo. He returned again later, and within two years had established 22 outposts, of which Franceville was the chief, distributed over an area of 500,000 km2/200,000 mi2.

In 1885 Brazza, following a new trail, established himself by Lake Chad, the junction of French possessions in the Congo, the Sudan, and North Africa. He held the post of governor of the French Congo for 12 years until 1898, when an inquiry investigated criticism of his administration, but he was acquitted. In 1905 he organized an expedition to ascertain the truth of rumours of cruelty to the native inhabitants. He died at Dakar.