Émile-Félix Gautier or Gauthier (19 October 1864 – 16 January 1940) was a French

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. Gautier was born in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

. His studies focused on northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, especially

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

desert and the territories of

French Africa French Africa includes all the historic holdings of France on the African continent. Françafrique French North Africa * Egypt (1798-1801) * French Algeria (1830–1962) * Protectorate of Tunisia (1881–1956) * Protectorate in Morocco (1 ...

. He also conducted research in the French colony of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. He died, aged 75, in

Pontivy Pontivy (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Morbihan Departments of France, department in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. It lies at the confluence of the river Blavet and the Canal de Nantes à Brest. ...

(Saint-Pierre-de-Quiberon). During his career, he taught classes at the ''École supérieure des lettres'' in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

, and was also a director of education in Madagascar. In 1922, he became a member of the

Académie des sciences d'outre-mer Académie des sciences d'outre-mer (formerly ) is a learned society created in 1922 whose field of activity is mainly geography and general history in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. Its headquarters are located in the 16th arrondissement ...

Works

* ''Madagascar : essai de géographie physique'' (1902) – Madagascar, essay of

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...

. * ''Études d’ethnographie saharienne'', l’Anthropologie XVIII, 1907 – Studies of Saharan

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

. * ''L’Algérie et la métropole'', 1920 – Algeria and the metropolis. * ''Les Territoires du Sud. Description géographique'', Gouvernement Général de l’Algérie, 1922 – The territories of the south, a geographical description. * ''Le Sahara'' (1923: translated as "Sahara, the Great Desert" by Dorothy Ford Mayhew, 1935). * ''L’Islamisation de l’Afrique du Nord. Les siècles obscurs du Moghreb'', 1927 –

Islamization The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted ...

of North Africa. Dark Ages of the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

. * ''Un Siècle de colonisation'' (1930) – A century of colonization. * ''Le Monument de Tin Hinan'' (Annales de l’Académie des sciences coloniales) t. VII, 1934 (with Maurice Reygasse).French Wikisource
(publications) * ''L'Afrique blanche'' (1939) – White Africa. * ''Missions au Sahara'' (with

René Chudeau René Chudeau (21 August 1864, in Angers – 1921) was a French geologist. Formerly an instructor at the University of Besançon, from 1905 to 1914 he conducted a series of geological surveys in the Sahara (later day nations of Mali, Maurita ...

)

References

External links

Bibliography
(

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, in French) 1864 births 1940 deaths French geographers French ethnographers Scientists from Clermont-Ferrand {{france-scientist-stub