Henri Mouhot
| Henri Mouhot | |
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A drawing of Henri Mouhot done by H. Rousseau from a photograph
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| Born | May 15, 1826 Montbéliard, Doubs, France |
| Died | November 10, 1861 (aged 35) Naphan, Laos |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | Natural history |
| Known for | Angkor |
Henri Mouhot (Born May 15, 1826 - November 10, 1861) Was a French naturalist and explorer who alerted the West to the ruins of Angkor, capital of the ancient Khmer civilization of Cambodia (Kampuchea). From a Protestant family living in the Franche-Comté, Mouhot studied at the collège Cuvier in Montbéliard, his hometown. At the age of 18 he left Montbéliard for a teaching position. In the Russian town of St. Petersburg he taught French at the military academy.
Driven by his desire for travel and the up-and-coming art of photography (daguerréotype), he visited Italy and Germany. Once in England, he married Anna Park, possibly granddaughter of the explorer Mungo Park (1771–1806). In 1856, the couple settled down in the Isle of Jersey.
During this period, Henri Mouhot honed his skills in natural sciences, especially in ornithology and conchyliology.
He died near Naphan, Laos on November 10, 1861. He is remembered mostly in connection to Angkor. Mouhot's tomb is located just outside Ban Phanom, to the east of Luang Prabang.
He traveled throughout Europe with his brother Charles, studying photographic techniques developed by Louis Daguerre. In 1856, he began devoting himself to the study of Natural Science. Upon reading "The Kingdom and People of Siam" by Sir James Bowring in 1857, Mouhot decided to travel to Indochina to conduct a series of botanical expeditions for the collection of new zoological specimens. His initial requests for grants and passage were rejected by French companies and the government of Napoleon III. The Royal Geographical Society and the Zoological Society of London lent him their support, and he set sail for Bangkok, via Singapore.
From his base in Bangkok in 1858, Mouhot made four journeys into the interior of Siam, Cambodia and Laos. Over a period of three years before he died, he endured extreme hardships and fended off wild animals, to explore some previously uncharted jungle territory.
On his first expedition, he visited Ayutthaya, the former capital of Siam (already charted territory), and gathered an extensive collection of insects, as well as terrestrial and river shells, and sent them on to England.
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