Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro

Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro (16 June 1862 - 28 October 1930) was born in Ferreñafe in the Lambayeque Region of Peru. He was one of the pioneers of the exploration of north-eastern Peru and a scientist of many talents - a natural historian, geographer, historian, geologist, archeologist and linguist.

At the age of six his parents sent him to be educated in Germany, where he studied at the prestigious universities of Bremen and Hamburg before returning home to Peru aged 26, to begin a distinguished career as an explorer.

Finding a route through the Andes to link the forested interior of Peru with the Pacific Ocean was a longstanding challenge. By the end of the 19th century many detailed technical and economic studies had been undertaken but Mesones Muro was the first to embark on the task of exploring all the regions of Peru in order to identify a route for the much anticipated railroad.

Through his explorations Mesones Muro's name became permanently associated with that of one of the major tributaries of the Amazon River. One of his biographers baptised him "el hombre del Marañón" - "the Marañón man".

The idea of opening up an outlet to the Pacific Ocean for Peru's Amazon region dates back to 1843. One proposal envisaged a journey of 650 km, starting from Piura. The author, Jorge von Hassel, was convinced that no low level route existed across the high Andes. Powerful political and economic interests were already planning the construction of the proposed railroad when on April 10, 1902, Mesones, at the time completely unknown, published a documented letter in Lima in which he suggested that the starting point for the shortest route to the Marañon should be Puerto Etėn. Arguing with authority and a command of all the information available he also pointed to the advantage conferred by the 48 km of track already built between Etėn and Ferreñafe.

Mesones immediately set about organising an exploratory expedition, funded with his own savings. His aim was to find the solution that best served the national interest. He set out on May 18, 1902 on an expedition that was to take him on an extraordinary adventure through the Rupa-Rupa forest ending with the first trip through the Pongo de Manseriche gorge and the discovery of the Paso de Porculla, at 2,144 m above sea level the lowest point in the Andes range. Mesones's companions on this expedition were Enrique Brüning and the engineer Eduardo de Habich.

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