Louis Gustave Binger

Who was Louis Gustave Binger?

Louis Gustave Binger was a French officer and explorer who claimed the Côte d'Ivoire for France.

Binger was born at Strasbourg in the Bas-Rhin departement. In 1887 he traveled from Senegal up to the Niger River, arriving at Grand Bassam in 1889. During this expedition he discovered that the Mountains of Kong did not exist. He described this journey in his work Du Niger au golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi.

In 1892 he returned to the Guinea Coast to superintend the forming of the boundaries between the British and French colonies. In 1893 Binger was appointed governor of the Côte d'Ivoire.

Louis Gustave Binger died at L'Isle-Adam, Île-de-France, France and was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. The city of Bingerville is named after him.