Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (redirected from Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza)

Brazza, Pierre Savorgnan de 

Born Jan. 25, 1852, in Rome; died Sept. 14,1905, in Dakar. French explorer and colonizer of Equatorial Africa. Italian by descent.

From 1875 to 1880, Brazza explored the basins of the Ogooué, Nyong, and Kwilu rivers and proved that they are not connected with the Congo River basin. He brought the inner areas of Gabon and the territory along the right bank of the lower Congo under French rule; he founded the military posts (later cities) of Franceville on the upper Ogooué and Brazzaville at Stanley Pool, a lakelike widening of the Congo River. In 1891–92 he undertook an expedition into the area of two of the northern tributaries of the Congo, the Sangha and the Ubangi.