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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Many Uses of Forgeries: The Case of Douville's 'Voyage au Congo'
Author:Vansina, JanISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:History in Africa
Volume:31
Pages:369-387
Language:English
Geographic terms:Angola
Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Subjects:travel
historical sources
social history
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128533
Abstract:On 30 March 1832, the Société de Géographie de Paris awarded its prestigious golden medal to Jean-Baptiste Douville 'for his travels in the Congo and in Equinoctial Africa'. By August 1832, however, Douville was being denounced as an adventurer whose 'Voyage au Congo et dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique équinoxiale fait dans les années 1828, 1829, et 1830' was not a major landmark in geographical exploration, but a forgery. By the spring of 1833, it was generally accepted that, while Douville had actually been in Angola, he had neither travelled outside its limits nor made the discoveries for which he had been honoured, and he was soon forgotten. The author of the present paper, however, when turning to the study of the social history of Ambaca (Angola), found that most of Douville's descriptions of local sociopolitical conditions and practices for the lands within the territory could be relied upon and were quite informative. This prompted the present attempt to delineate what is reliable evidence in Douville's travels and what it is evidence for. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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