The Mekong Exploration Mission: France's Bold Quest for a River Route to China
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The Mekong Exploration Mission was an expedition funded by the colonial government of French Cochinchina. Amid competition among colonial powers for access to the Chinese market, its main objective was to establish the navigability of the Mekong toward China.
Illustration: Members of the Mekong Exploration Commission at the Angkor site. From left to right: Francis Garnier, Louis Delaporte, Lucien Joubert, Clovis Thorel, Louis de Carné, and Ernest Doudart de Lagrée. Engraving based on a photograph by Émile Gsell
The mission began on June 7, 1866, in Saigon. It would end two years later in the same city, on June 29, 1868. Over this period, the expedition members covered nearly 10,000 kilometers. Although the Mekong proved impracticable for opening a true commercial route, the scientific discoveries and cartographic work led to numerous distinctions, particularly from the Société de Géographie and the Royal Geographical Society.
Context
Cochinchina was annexed by France from Annam in 1862. In 1863, Cambodia became a French protectorate. While the acquisition of these territories responded to British ambitions in the region, it did not yield the expected commercial success. On the contrary, administering these distant lands was costly, and in Paris, questions arose about the viability of a long-term presence.
On the ground, settlers saw the Mekong as a potential privileged route to China and its vast market—a promise of trade and prosperity. At the urging of the Governor of Saigon, Admiral Pierre-Paul de La Grandière, the Minister of the Navy and Colonies, Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat, endorsed the idea of organizing a reconnaissance mission of the great river. Command was entrusted to Frigate Captain Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, seconded by naval officer Francis Garnier. About twenty men boarded two gunboats departing from Saigon.
On June 5, 1866, during embarkation, a large crowd came to salute "the valiant pioneers of science." The mission, led by Doudart de Lagrée, consisted of: Francis Garnier, in charge of hydrographic work and mapping the route; draftsman Louis Delaporte; naval surgeon Lucien Joubert, responsible for geological observations; Clovis Thorel, botanist and physician; Viscount Louis de Carné, tasked with describing the traversed countries and studying commercial issues; and photographer Émile Gsell.
Cambodia
Equipped with a commission letter from Admiral de La Grandière, the mission left Saigon on June 5, 1866, reached Phnom Penh, and via the Tonlé Sap, went to Angkor. Returning via Phnom Penh, it ascended the Mekong by gunboat and reached the first rapids at Samboc-Sombor beyond Kratié.
Progress from then on would be by water in pirogues and overland on elephant-back and ox carts. The dangerous zones of Préapatang and the Khone Falls were bypassed along the bank, and on September 11, the mission reached Bassac (Champassak). From there, Garnier surveyed the lower course of the Se-Don (Tonle Kong in Cambodian) and the ruins of Vat Phou, while Doudart de Lagrée went to Attopeu.
Laos
From southern Laos, part of the Commission ascended the Semoun to Ubon Ratchathani in Siam, while another continued up the river. The two groups reunited on the main river at Kemarat on January 30, 1867. The expedition passed Vientiane and arrived at Luang Prabang on April 28, 1867. Having crossed too many rapids, Garnier concluded that the Mekong was a river that "simply did not want to cooperate." He noted in his report:
"The future of rapid commercial relations on this vast river, the natural route from China to Saigon, which I had happily dreamed of the day before, now appears seriously compromised."
Exhausted, with malaria raging, the men rested for four weeks in Luang Prabang, where they obtained passports for China. However, the difficult territories ahead and the region's political instability disrupted travel plans. The expedition departed again on May 25, 1867.
Burma and China
To reach Yunnan Province, Doudart de Lagrée planned to follow the Nam Ou, a Mekong tributary, but revolts in the province forced the expedition to continue along the Mekong toward Sé-Mao. In October 1867, the mission finally left the Mekong to head toward Kunming (Yun-Nân-Sen). The expedition then faced a powerful river: the Red River (Song-koï). Garnier was tasked by Doudart de Lagrée to reconnaissance it. He soon had to abandon it due to the difficult terrain and rapids. Nevertheless, the expedition's second-in-command sensed the potential for a river route to the China Sea. The men reunited only to separate again when Garnier set off on another mission toward the city of Dali (Ta-Li-Fou). The sultan's reception was unfavorable, forcing a retreat. During their absence, Doudart de Lagrée, gravely ill, succumbed on March 12, 1868. Francis Garnier took command, reached the Blue River (Yangzi Jiang), and descended it to Shanghai. The men returned to Saigon on June 29, 1868, after two years of exploration.
Consequences
If the Mekong proved not to be the hoped-for communication route, Francis Garnier believed the Red River offered an alternative to the Chinese market. Explored incidentally in its upper reaches during the expedition, its navigability would be established a few years later by Jean Dupuis. The capture of Hanoi and Tonkin would follow as a consequence.
Legacy
Scientifically, the numerous discoveries earned Francis Garnier a shared Honor Medal from the Société de Géographie with David Livingstone in 1871. Louis Delaporte produced many drawings and sketches—unique testimonies of the customs and mores of these territories then unknown to the West. As for Émile Gsell (who stopped in Cambodia), he brought back the first photographs ever taken of the Angkor site.
The Expedition's Account
Francis Garnier was commissioned by the Ministry of the Navy to publish the travel narrative. The work consists of two in-quarto volumes and one in-folio atlas. The original edition was published by Librairie Hachette in 1873. The book features numerous wood engravings in the text and full-page, along with 10 color-engraved maps.
Sources
L. Rapatel, Voyage d’exploration en Indochine. Interfaces — Livres anciens de l’Université de Lyon, 2020. [En ligne : https://bibulyon.hypotheses.org/15248.
G. Taboulet, Le voyage d’exploration du Mékong (1866-1868) : Doudart de Lagrée et Francis Garnier, Revue Française d’Histoire d’Outre-Mer, 1970
Wikiwand : Mission d’exploration du Mékong (1866-1868)
(en) Milton Osborne, River Road to China : The Mekong River Expedition, 1866–1873, 1975
(en) Milton Osborne (en), ‘Francis Garnier (1839–1873), Explorer of the Mekong River’, in Explorers of South-east Asia, Six Lives, éd. Victor T. King, Kuala Lumpur 1995
Gomane, Jean-Pierre. L’exploration du Mékong. La mission Doudart de Lagrée. Francis Garnier (1866-1868). Paris : L’Harmattan, 1994, 287 p.
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