Théodore Louis Joseph-Pons d'Arnaud was a French civil engineer, geographer and naturalist. In 1830 he was hired by the government of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

to work on irrigation projects. In 1840-41 he participated in an expedition raised by the

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...

of Egypt that searched (unsuccessfully) for the source of the

White Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale colo ...

. In 1841-42 he explored in the Sudan on an expedition led by

Binbashi A ''binbashi'', alternatively ''bimbashi'', (from tr, Binbaşı, "chief of a thousand", "chiliarch") is a major in the Turkish army, of which term originated in the Ottoman army. The title was also used for a major in the Khedivial Egyptian a ...

(Major) Selim, a Turkish officer in the Marine d'Alexandrie. Further voyages of exploration took him to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

(1843) and the Sudan (1860). In 1844 d'Arnaud was awarded the

Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations The Grande Médaille d’Or des Explorations et Voyages de Découverte (Great Gold Medal of Exploration and Journeys of Discovery) has been awarded since 1829 by the Société de Géographie of France for journeys whose outcomes have enhanced geog ...

(gold medal for exploration) by French

Geographical Society This is a list of geographical societies International * EUGEO-Association of Geographical Societies in Europe * European Geography Association * EUROGEO-European Association of Geographers *Gamma Theta Upsilon *International Geographical Union *W ...

. In 1856 he was appointed as a Lieutenant colonel in an Egyptian regiment. D'Arnaud authored a book on the aquatic plants of the Upper Nile. Two bird species are named in his honour:

D'Arnaud's barbet D'Arnaud's barbet (''Trachyphonus darnaudii'') is a species of African barbet. Barbets and toucans are a group of near passerine birds with a worldwide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy b ...

, an East African insectivorous bird, and the

Grey-capped social weaver The grey-capped social weaver (''Pseudonigrita arnaudi'') is a sparrow-like liver-colored bird, with a pale grey crown, a dark grey bill, a whitish eye-ring, horn-colored legs, with some black in the wing and a light terminal band in the tail, th ...

, ''Pseudonigrita arnaudi''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pons d'Arnaud, Joseph 1811 births 1884 deaths French civil engineers French explorers