page_title: Ferdinand de Béhagle
section_title: Expedition to Bornu
hierarchical_section_title: Ferdinand de Béhagle / Expedition to Bornu
caption_attribution_description: English: Ferdinand de Béhagle, French Explorer, plate from his 1896 Voyage commercial et scientifique au bassin du Tchad, Afrique centrale
context_page_description: Jean Jacques Marie Ferdinand de Béhagle was a French explorer of Africa.
  He served with the colonial service in Algeria and travelled in the Congo and Ubangi region.
  While attempting to find a viable land route from the Congo to the Mediterranean via Chad he was taken prisoner by Rabih az-Zubayr and hanged.
context_section_description: During the 1890s the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr was actively expanding his power in the former Bornu Empire around Lake Chad. 
  He built a fortress at Dikoa, to the south of Lake Chad, and attempted to obtain munitions to modernise his army from the British Royal Niger Company.
  The French officer Émile Gentil reached the Chari River from the Congo in 1897, and learned that Rabih az-Zubayr had been responsible for the death of Paul Crampel. 
  Gentil signed a protectorate treaty with Gaorang, Sultan of Bagirmi to the southeast of Lake Chad.
  Bonnel de Mézières engaged de Béhagle for his Paris-based Syndicat commercial français des bassin do Tchad et de l'Oubangui (SCFBTO).
  De Béhagle was asked to find an economically viable land route via Chad from the Congo to the Mediterranean Sea.
  In 1898, de Béhagle and Toussaint Mercuri (1871–1902) left Bangui, now in the Central African Republic, destined for Chad.
  De Béhagle explored the Tomi and Gribingui rivers, and found their sources.
  He met Sultan Gaorang in Kouno in July 1898.
  Rabih az-Zubayr now had an army of 10,000 men.
  He had imposed a dictatorship on the old Bornu empire, made the sultans his vassals and imposed a law based on the Sharia.
  De Béhagle was received by Rabih at Dikoa on 14 March 1899.
  At first, he was treated well, but the two men soon quarrelled.
  Rabih wanted to buy de Béhagle's rifles, and when he refused, threw him in prison.
caption: Plate from Béhagle's 1896 Voyage commercial et scientifique au bassin du Tchad, Afrique centrale
exif: {}