Paul Belloni Du Chaillu

Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1835–1903),explorer and author, probably born in France and reared in Africa, came to the U.S. (c. 1852), and received the backing of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences for his African explorations (1856–59), described in his Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa (1861). Because of its seemingly fantastic tales, this work won him notoriety and ridicule rather than scientific fame. A second expedition (1863–65) resulted in his Journey to Ashangoland (1867), Stories of the Gorilla Country (1868), Wild Life Under the Equator (1869), Lost in the Jungle (1869), My Apingi Kingdom (1870), and The Country of the Dwarfs (1871). A trip to Sweden, Norway, and Lapland (1871) was the source of his The Land of the Midnight Sun (1881) and The Viking Age (1889). He died in Russia.

Paul Belloni Du Chaillu , c.1831-1903, French-American explorer in Africa. Born probably in Paris, he spent his youth on the west coast of Africa, where his father was a trader in Gabon. There he learned the native languages and became interested in exploring the interior. Arriving in the United States in 1852, he became a citizen and gained the support of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences for an expedition to explore Gabon. On his explorations (1855-59), he captured many rare birds and animals, some of them previously unknown to science. He brought back the first gorillas to be seen in America. His published account, Explorations in Equatorial Africa (1861), upset the previous ideas of the region's geography; Du Chaillu made a second expedition (1863-65) to prove the truth of his account. On this trip he visited many tribes hitherto unknown and verified previous reports of Pygmy people. His book, A Journey to Ashango-Land (1867), is an account of this expedition. His subsequent writings include Stories of the Gorilla Country (1867), Wild Life under the Equator (1868), My Apingi Kingdom (1870), and The Country of the Dwarfs (1871). He traveled in Scandinavia (1871-78) and published The Land of the Midnight Sun (1881) and The Viking Age (1889).

Bibliography: See biography by M. Vaucaire (tr. 1930).