Jules Crevaux

Jules Crevaux
Jules Crevaux, c. 1875
Born	April 1, 1847 Lorquin, France
Died	April 27, 1882 Bolivia
Nationality	French
Occupation	French doctor and explorer

Jules Crevaux was a French doctor, soldier, and explorer. He is known for his multiple explorations into the interior of French Guiana and the Amazon.

Jules Crevaux was born on April 1, 1847 in the north-eastern French town of Lorquin. He began to study medicine at the University of Strasbourg before being transferred to the French Navy's medical school at Brest. In 1868 he was assigned to the Cérès as a medical assistant and served in Senegal, the French West Indies and French Guiana. At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he volunteered to serve as a marine. He was sent to the Loire Valley where he was wounded and captured by Prussian forces on December 17, 1870. He escaped soon after and was wounded again on January 24, 1871.

Following the war, he completed his medical studies and was granted his M.D.. He was appointed as chief physician on the La Motte-Piquet. He was sent to the colony of French Guiana in 1876.

The interior of French Guiana was virtually unknown and Crevaux decided to lead an exploration into its depths. On July 8, 1877 Crevaux traveled up the Maroni River where he encountered the Galibi and the Bonis. He left the Maroni to follow a tributary, the Itany River, along the way he visited the Roucouyenne and then followed an Emerillon trail over the spine of the Tumuk Humak Mountains. He descended the other side of the mountains to the Jari River, a tributary of the Amazon. By December 1877 he had reached the Brazilian city of Belém. He was nearly naked and had lost or used most of his possessions, and was believed by the Brazilian inhabitants to be an escaped French prisoner and was refused any help. He was eventually aided by a fellow Frenchman who bought him passage on a ship back to France. Upon returning to France, Crevaux gave an account of his journey to the Société de Géographie and was made a "Knight" of the Légion d'honneur.