Binger, Louis-Gustave (sold)
Louis-Gustave Binger (October 14, 1856 – November 10, 1936) was a French officer and explorer. In 1887 he traveled from Senegal up to the Niger River, then further south to arrive at Grand Bassam in 1889. During the expedition he laid claim to the Côte d'Ivoire for France. Beginning in 1892 he oversaw the formation of boundaries between the British and French colonies in Western Africa, and served as governor of the Côte d'Ivoire from 1893 to 1898. Following his tenure there he returned to France to an administrative post at the French Colonial Ministry. The city of Bingerville in the Ivory Coast is named after him.
A Monumental Catalogue of European Exploration in Mali and The Ivory Coast
Carte du Haut-Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi.
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This is Louis-Gustave Binger's 1890 map of Africa's Upper Niger River, covering a region that now includes parts of Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The map includes insets detailing the coastal regions of the Côte d'Ivoire, and the lower course of the Comoe River, by which route Binger reached the Gulf of Guinea from his travels to Kong. This is the first and most detailed map of the region south of the Upper Niger, produced by the French as they moved to establish colonial control over the region. In particular, the map shows the Herculean travels of Louis-Gustave Binger, performed in an atmosphere of pronounced hostility: throughout the period of Binger's exploration, the Wassoulou Empire (led by Samory Touré) was in armed opposition to French colonial efforts. Binger's journey to the Empire of Kong, a pre-colonial Muslim state in what is now Côte d'Ivoire, was made explicitly to forge alliances in the region against Samory. Binger's negotiations with the Kong in 1888 established French control in the region as part of French West Africa, instantly painting the Kong as a target for Samory Touré. Nonetheless, within a decade of receiving the 'protection' of the French, the last stronghold of the Kong was burned to the ground. (more details)