France: Rene Caillie (1799-1838), explorer and geographer, first European to visit and return safely from Timbuktu. Oil on canvas, Amelie Legrand de Saint-Aubin (1798 - ?), 1830

René Caillié (19 November 1799 – 17 May 1838) was a French explorer and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu.

In April 1827 he set off across West Africa. He arrived in Timbuktu a year later and stayed there for two weeks before heading across the Sahara Desert to Tangier in Morocco.

On his return to France, he was awarded the prize of 10,000 francs by the Société de Géographie and helped by the scholar Edme-François Jomard, published an account of his journey. In 1830 he was awarded the Gold Medal by the Société de Géographie.

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