page_title: Mekong expedition of 1866–1868
section_title: The Mekong Exploration Commission
hierarchical_section_title: Mekong expedition of 1866–1868 / The Mekong Exploration Commission
caption_attribution_description: English: Approximate route of the French Mekong Expedition of 1866-1868 a distance of around 9000 km/5600mi, start in Saigon, clockwise
context_page_description: The Mekong expedition of 1866–1868, conceived and promoted by a group of French colonial officers and launched under the leadership of captain Ernest Doudard de Lagrée, was a naval exploration and scientific expedition of the Mekong River on behalf of the French colonial authorities of Cochinchina. Its primary objective, besides scientific documentation, mapping, and the mission civilisatrice, was an assessment of the river's navigability in order to link the delta region and the port of Saigon with the riches of southern China and upper Siam. Ambitions were to turn Saigon into a successful commercial center such as British controlled Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
  Political objectives were heavily influenced by 19th century Anglo-French geo-strategic rivalries, namely the consolidation and expansion of French colonial possessions, the containment of Britain's colony of Upper Burma and the suppression of British economic interference on the Southeast Asian subcontinent.
context_section_description: In 1865, the colonial governor of Saigon, Admiral Pierre-Paul de la Grandiere, won approval for the expedition from a reluctant Ministry of the Navy and the Colonies in Paris. "Throughout 1864, the French government had vacillated over whether to sustain their colonial possession in southern Vietnam or to abandon" this so far costly venture. On his return to Saigon, the governor appointed the members of the Mekong Exploration Commission (or The Exploration Commission, fr.: Commission d'exploration du Mékong) on 1 June 1866.
  Ernest Doudart de Lagrée (captain, expedition leader, member of the Agricultural and Industrial Committee Cochin, entomologist)
  Francis Garnier (lieutenant, inspector of Indigenous Affairs, mission leader after Doudart de Lagrée's death)
  Louis Delaporte (lieutenant, archaeologist, artist, art historian)
  Louis de Carné (governor de Carné's nephew, aged 23, attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
  Eugene Joubert (geologist, medical assistant 2nd class)
  Clovis Thorel (botanist, auxiliary 3rd class doctor, member of the Agricultural and Industrial Committee of Cochin)
  Émile Gsell (photographer)
  The staff of the expedition, around 20 people, consisted of:
  marine infantry Sergeant Charbonnier (secretary of the Head of Shipping)
  a marine infantryman
  two French sailors
  two interpreters for Siamese and Annamite languages
  Alexis Om, interpreter for Cambodian languages
  two Tagalog sailors
  an Annamese sergeant and his militiamen
caption: Route of the expedition
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