Brazza Pierre Savorgnande

Brazza, Pierre Savorgnan de, explorer, was born in 1852, at Rome. After studying at Paris, he entered the French navy in 1870. In 1878 he was subsidised by the Government to explore the country north of the Congo, where he acquired grants of land for France, and established stations. In 1883 he returned to the Congo again, and extended still further the interests of France there. In 1886 he was made governor of the French dependency between Gaboon and the Congo - territory that he himself had been instrumental in acquiring.