Jean Marie Emile Pinet-Laprade (July 13, 1822 - August 17, 1869) was a French colonial military officer and engineer active in West Africa. Pinet-Laprade was born in Mirepoix, Ariège, France and studied at the École Polytechnique and later at a military engineering school at Metz. He was sent as an engineer to Gorée in 1855. Shortly thereafter, he was part of the French takeover of Dakar, after which he laid out the city on a European style grid inspired by his hometown of Mirepoix. This design became common-use in French Africa where it was known as the 'Plan Pinet-Laprade'. He became governor of Senegal from May 13 to July 14, 1863 and again from May 1, 1865 until his death of cholera in 1869. During his administration, he completed numerous engineering works, ranging from lighthouses to the instigation of a Saint Louis - Dakar railroad. Unlike most colonial administrators, Pinet-Laprade was vehemently anti-slavery, even marrying a Senegalese Fulani woman, Marie Assar (a.k.a. Peulth), who he introduced to his family in France and made his heir.



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