Aimé Olivier de Sanderval (10 July 1840,

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

– 22 March 1919), comte de Sanderval, was a French adventurer, explorer of

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

, entrepreneur and author.

Early life

He was born in

, the second of three brothers; Marius was born in 1839 and René in 1843.
English Google translation
/ref> He attended the

lycée Saint-Louis The Lycée Saint-Louis () is a selective post-secondary school located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, 6th arrondissement of Paris, in the Latin Quarter. It is the only state-funded French lycée that exclusively offers ''Classe Préparatoir ...

in Paris. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1860. In 1864, he graduated from the Parisian Central School of Arts and Manufactures (of which his uncle Théodore Olivier was a co-founder).

Velocipedes

In August 1865, René and Aimé Olivier, along with Georges de La Bouglise, traveled by

velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation ...

(an early form of the

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

) across France from Paris to

Tullins Tullins () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Geography The agglomeration of Tullins is situated in forested foothills that flank Chambaran Plateau. At its foot lies the alluvial plain of the Isère, which is th ...

to visit the Olivers' uncle, Michel Perret; they then continued on to

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

. While still students at the Central School, the Olivier brothers became acquainted with

Pierre Michaux Pierre Michaux (June 25, 1813 – January 10, 1883) was a blacksmith who furnished parts for the carriage trade in Paris during the 1850s and 1860s. He may have become the inventor of the bicycle when he added pedals to a draisine to form ...

. They became early velocipede manufacturers; In partnership with Michaux, they formed the Michaux et Cie company in May 1868. However, they eventually parted ways with Michaux, and Michaux et Cie was dissolved. The Compagnie Parisienne des Vélocipèdes was established, but the French public lost interest in the velocipede, and the second company came to an end in 1874, leaving Aimé Olivier open to another venture.

In Africa

A longtime admirer of French explorer

René Caillié Auguste René Caillié (; 19 November 1799 – 17 May 1838) was a French explorer and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu. Caillié had been preceded at Timbuktu by a British officer, Alexander Gordon Laing, Major Gordon ...

, Olivier himself explored much of "Lower and Middle Guinea". He visited

Labé Labé ( Pular: 𞤂𞤢𞤦𞤫) is the main city and administrative capital of the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea. It has a population of about 200,000. It is the second largest city in the country after the capital Conakry in terms of economic i ...

in 1875
English Google translation
/ref> and traveled to Timbo by way of

Boké Boké is the capital city of Boké Prefecture within the Boké Region of Lower Guinea near the border with Guinea-Bissau. It is also a sub-prefecture of Guinea. Located along the Rio Nuñez which flows to its not-too-distant mouth on the Atl ...

twice, in 1880 and 1888. He lived many years in the Labé and Timbo regions, and persuaded the

almamy Almami (; Also: Almamy, Almaami) was the regnal name of Tukulor monarchs from the eighteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. It is derived from the Arabic Al-Imam, meaning "the leader", and it has since been claimed as th ...

, the leader of the

imamate of Futa Jallon The Imamate of Futa Jallon or Jalon (; or ' , ), sometimes referred to as the Emirate of Timbo, was a West African Islamic state based in the Fouta Djallon highlands of modern Guinea. The state was founded in 1725 by a Fulani jihad and became ...

, to grant him sizable territorial concessions. (He had coins struck while trying to establish his own realm in the

Fouta Djallon Fouta Djallon (, , ; ) is a Highland (geography), highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa. Etymology The Fulani people call the region Fouta Jallon Kingdom, Fuuta-Jaloo ( ) in the Pular l ...

region in what is now

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

.) The concessions were taken away from him, but they played a part in the creation of a French protectorate over the Fouta Djallon area. Later, he settled down in

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

. The Sandervalia district of the city is named after him. At some point,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Luís I of Portugal Dom (title), ''Dom'' Luís I (; 31 October 1838 – 19 October 1889), known as "the Popular" (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''o Popular'') was King of Portugal from 1861 to 1889. Luís was a member of the ruling House of Braganza. The second ...

bestowed on him the title comte de Sanderval.

Novel

The King of Kahel ''The King of Kahel'' (French: ''Le Roi de Kahel'') is a 2008 French-language novel by Guinean author Tierno Monénembo. It won the 2008 prix Renaudot. It was translated in 2010 to English by Nicholas Elliott and published by AmazonCrossing, Ama ...

'' (French: ''Le Roi de Kahel'') is a 2008 French-language novel by

n author

Tierno Monénembo Thierno Saïdou Diallo, usually known as Tierno Monénembo (born 1947 in Porédaka), is a Francophone Guinean novelist and biochemist. Born in Guinea, he later lived in Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, and finally France since 1973. He has written eigh ...

which is loosely based on Olivier's life. It won the 2008

prix Renaudot The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or () is a French literary award. History The prize was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt. While not officially related to the Prix Goncour ...

Works

*
De l'Atlantique au Niger par le Foutah-Djallon, carnet de voyage
' d'Aimé Olivier de Sanderval, 1882. *
Soudan français Kahel; carnet de voyage
', d'Aimé Olivier de Sanderval, 1893. *
Conquête du Foutah-Djallon
', d'Aimé Olivier de Sanderval, 1899. *
Les Rives du Konkouré, de l'Atlantique au Fouta-Djalon
', Paris, Challamel, 1900. *
De l'absolu (extraits). La mort n'est pas la mort.
', Digne, Constans et Davin, 1914. * ''Mémoires d'Aimé Olivier, comte de Sanderval'', published by Georges Olivier de Sanderval, with illustrations by Gaullieur-L'Hardy, Imprimeries bretonnes, 1961.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderval, Aime Olivier de 1840 births 1919 deaths 19th-century French explorers 19th-century French writers 19th-century French businesspeople