Alexandrine Tinné

Alexandrine Pieternella Francois Tinne
Portrait of Alexandrine Tinne
Born	(1835-10-17)17 October 1835 The Hague, United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Died	1 August 1869(1869-08-01) (aged 33) In the Fezzan region, Ottoman Tripolitania
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Explorer

Alexandrine Petronella Francina Tinne (alternative spellings: Pieternella, Françoise, Tinné) (17 October 1835 – 1 August 1869) was a Dutch explorer in Africa and the first European woman to attempt to cross the Sahara. She often went by the first name Alexine.

Alexandrine was the daughter of Philip Frederik Tinne and Baroness Henriette van Capellen. Philip Tinne was a Dutch merchant who settled in England during the Napoleonic wars and later returned to his native land. Henriette van Capellen, daughter of a famous Dutch Vice-Admiral, Theodorus Frederik van Capellen, was Philip's second wife, and Alexandrine was born when he was sixty-three. Henriette van Capellen was also lady-in-waiting to Queen Sofia. Young Alexandrine was tutored at home, and showed a proficiency at piano. Her wealthy father died when she was ten years old, leaving her the richest woman in the Netherlands.

For the first extensive journey in Central Africa Alexine Tinne left Europe in the summer of 1861 for the White Nile regions. Accompanied by her mother and her aunt, she set out on 9 January 1862. After a short stay at Khartoum the party ascended the White Nile to Gondokoro, the first European women to arrive there. Alexandrine fell ill and they were forced to return reaching Khartoum on 20 November. Directly after their return Theodor von Heuglin and Hermann Steudner met with the Tinne's and the four of them planned to travel to the Bahr-el-Ghazal, a tributary of the White Nile, in order to reach the countries of the 'Niam-Niam'(Azande). Heuglin and Steudner left Khartoum on 25 January, ahead of the expedition. The Tinnes followed on 5 February. Heuglin also had a geographical exploration in mind, intending to explore the uncharted region beyond the river and to ascertain how far westward the Nile basin extended; also to investigate the reports of a vast lake in Central Africa eastwards of those already known, most likely the lake-like expanses of the middle Congo.

Ascending the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the limit of navigation was reached on 10 March. From Meshra-er-Rek a journey was made overland, across the Bahr Jur and south-west by the Bahr Kosango, to Jebel Kosango, on the borders of the Niam-Niam country. During the journey all the travelers suffered severely from fever. Steudner died in April and Alexandrine's mother in July, followed by two Dutch maids. After many fatigues and dangers the remainder of the party reached Khartoum at the end of March 1864, when Miss Tinne's aunt, who had stayed in Khartoum, died. Alexine Tinne buried her aunt and one maid, and brought the corpse of her mother and the other maid back to Cairo. John Tinne, her half-brother from Liverpool, visited Alexine in January/February 1865, with the intention of talking her into joining him back home. Alexine was not to be persuaded, and John left with the two corpses and a large part of her ethnographic collection. Her mother's corpse later was buried at the Oud Eik en Duinen cemetery in The Hague. Alexine's ethnographic collection was donated by John to the Public Museum (now the Liverpool World Museum).