Léon Chefneux

Léon Chefneux (born Piatra Neamț, Romania on 15 January 1853 and died in Grasse on 31 May 1927) was a French explorer, businessman, and colonial administrator.

Biography

From 1877, he travelled to Ethiopia with Pierre Arnoux for the Franco-Ethiopian Commercial Society, and later with Paul Soleillet for the French Society.[1]

In 1882, he set up in Choa as a trader and became friends with Arthur Rimbaud.[2] In 1885, he was in charge of delivering weapons to Négus Menelik and, together with Henry Audon, traversed Dankali and Choa, where they met Paul Soleillet. After a hunting accident, Audon was injured and had to have a limb amputated.[3]

Upon learning of the massacre of the explorer Léon Barral and his wife on 24 February 1886, he went to the sources of Amoïssa and found the unrecognisable bodies, which had been devoured by hyenas and birds of prey. He found the expedition's rifles and baggage.[4]

He was the manager of the Lake Assal Society (1896-1897), having received the concession in 1887,[5] and in 1896 he founded, with Alfred Ilg, the Imperial Company of Ethiopian Railways. As Ethiopia's consul general, Léon Chefneux was involved in establishing the railway between Djibouti and Addis Ababa.

He was knighted in the Legion of Honour on 9 January 1894.[6]

Bibliography

David H. Shinn, Thomas P. Ofcansky, Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia, 2013, p. 386

References
  1. Hugues Fontaine, Seduced by a Life of Adventure, 26 October 2014 (with photos)
  2. Alain Borer, Andrée Montègre, Arthur Rimbaud, Work-Life: Centenary Edition, 1991, p. 948
  3. Henry Audon, Journey to Choa (Southern Abyssinia), Le Tour du monde, 1889
  4. Jules Borelli, Southern Ethiopia, 1890, p. 50-51
  5. Colette Dubois, Djibouti's White Gold. Saltworks and Saltmakers (19th-20th centuries), 2003, p. 75-76
  6. See file on the Léonore base, p. 1

"Notice no. LH/514/68". Base Léonore (in French).

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