Henri Mouhot

1.1. Education and Early Career

Mouhot traveled extensively throughout Europe with his brother, Charles, where they studied photographic techniques, including those developed by Louis Daguerre. In 1856, he shifted his focus to the study of natural science, a field he would dedicate himself to for the remainder of his life. In the same year, he married the daughter of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park.

1.2. Decision to Explore

Mouhot's decision to embark on expeditions to Southeast Asia was significantly influenced by his reading of The Kingdom and People of Siam by Sir John Bowring in 1857. Inspired by this work, he resolved to travel to Indochina to conduct a series of botanical expeditions with the goal of collecting new zoological specimens. His initial attempts to secure funding and passage were met with rejection from French companies and the government of Napoleon III. However, his persistence paid off when the Royal Geographical Society and the Zoological Society of London lent him their support. With this backing, he set sail for Bangkok, via Singapore, in 1858.

2.1. Overview of Expeditions

Mouhot's expeditions were characterized by their extensive scope and the significant challenges he encountered. He meticulously documented his travels, which involved navigating dense jungles, facing the dangers of local wildlife, and enduring the physical toll of long journeys in a demanding climate. Despite these difficulties, he successfully collected a wide array of natural specimens and made detailed observations of the regions he traversed.

2.2. Major Routes and Itinerary

Mouhot's four expeditions followed specific routes, each contributing to his comprehensive documentation of the region.

• First Expedition (159 mile ^{(256 km)}): Beginning from Bangkok, Mouhot traveled to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Siam. Although this area had already been charted, he used the opportunity to gather an extensive collection of insects, as well as terrestrial and river shells, which he subsequently sent to England.
• Second Expedition (1.5 K mile ^{(2.40 K km)}): This was Mouhot's longest journey. It commenced from Bangkok, leading him along the coast to Chanthaburi, and then to islands such as Ko Chang and Ko Kood. He proceeded to Oudongk and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, staying with the Stieng tribe in Bro Lam Peh. His return route took him via Tonlé Sap Lake, the Angkor ruins, Battambang, and Kabinburi before returning to Bangkok. It was during this expedition, in January 1860, that he reached Angkor.
• Third Expedition (0.8 K mile ^{(1.25 K km)}): This journey saw Mouhot travel from Bangkok to Phetchaburi, then back to Bangkok, before heading north to Lopburi, Ayutthaya, Tha Ruea, Sao Hai, Wat Tha Khlo Tai, Chaiyaphum, and Saraburi, eventually returning to Bangkok.
• Fourth Expedition (0.7 K mile ^{(1.05 K km)}): His final expedition began from Bangkok, taking him to Si Khiu, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prasat Phanom Wan, Chaiyaphum, Non Kok, Phu Khiao, Loei, Pak Lay, Tha Deua, and finally to Luang Prabang and Na Le in Laos, where he eventually succumbed to illness.

The detailed itinerary of his journeys, as recorded in Le Tour du Monde (the "Around the World" journal), is as follows:

3.1. Visit to Angkor

Mouhot reached Angkor in January 1860, at the culmination of his second and longest journey. He spent three weeks meticulously observing and documenting the vast complex, which spanned over 154 mile^{2 (400 km2)} and included numerous ancient terraces, pools, moated cities, palaces, and temples. Among these, Angkor Wat was the most renowned. His observations, sketches, and detailed records from this visit were later incorporated into his posthumously published travel journals, Voyage dans les royaumes de Siam, de Cambodge, de Laos et autres parties centrales de l'Indochine^French.

3.2. The "Discovery" Myth and Reality

The popular notion that Mouhot "discovered" Angkor is a misconception. The location and existence of the entire series of Angkor sites were continuously known to the Khmer people and had been visited by several Westerners long before Mouhot's arrival. For instance, a Portuguese trader, Diogo do Couto, visited Angkor and wrote about it in 1550, and the Portuguese monk António da Madalena also documented his visit to Angkor Wat in 1586. Mouhot himself noted in his journals that Father Charles Emile Bouillevaux, a French missionary based in Battambang, had reported visiting Angkor Wat and other Khmer temples at least five years prior to Mouhot's expedition, publishing his accounts in 1857 in "Travel in Indochina 1848-1846, The Annam and Cambodia". Therefore, Mouhot's contribution was not one of initial discovery, but rather of popularization.

3.3. Re-evaluation of Angkor and Western Impact

What set Mouhot apart from previous European visitors was the evocative nature of his writings and the inclusion of detailed sketches. In his posthumously published Travels in Siam, Cambodia and Laos, Mouhot's vivid descriptions brought Angkor to widespread Western attention. His accounts fostered significant French interest in the site, leading to subsequent efforts in its preservation and scholarly study, with France undertaking the majority of research work on Angkor for many years.

3.4. Mouhot's Interpretation of Angkor

Mouhot's interpretations of the Angkor ruins were influenced by the prevailing Western views of his time. He compared Angkor to the pyramids, reflecting a popular belief in the West that all civilization originated in the Middle East. For example, he described the Buddha heads at the gateways to Angkor Thom as "four immense heads in the Egyptian style." He further wrote of Angkor:

"One of these temples-a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo-might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."

Mouhot also expressed his profound admiration for the ruins, stating: "At Ongcor, there are ...ruins of such grandeur... that, at the first view, one is filled with profound admiration, and cannot but ask what has become of this powerful race, so civilized, so enlightened, the authors of these gigantic works?"

Such powerful descriptions likely contributed to the popular misconception that Mouhot had discovered the abandoned ruins of a lost civilization. The Royal Geographical Society and the Zoological Society of London, both keen to announce new findings, appeared to encourage the rumor that Mouhot, whom they had sponsored to chart mountains and rivers and catalog new species, had discovered Angkor. Mouhot himself erroneously asserted that Angkor was the work of an earlier civilization than the Khmer. Despite the very civilization that built Angkor being alive and present before his eyes, he considered them in a "state of barbarism" and could not believe they were civilized or enlightened enough to have constructed such magnificent structures. He assumed that the creators of such grandeur were a disappeared race and mistakenly dated Angkor back over two millennia, to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was later pieced together from the book The Customs of Cambodia written by Zhou Daguan, an envoy of Temür Khan, who visited Cambodia in 1295-1296, and from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the entire Angkor site. It is now known that Angkor was inhabited from the early 9th century to the early 15th century.

7.1. Grave and Monuments

In 1867, six years after Mouhot's death, the French commander Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, leading the Mekong Expedition of 1866-68 and acting under orders from the Governor of Cochinchina, constructed a small monument near where they believed Mouhot's grave was located. De Lagrée delivered a eulogy, stating, "We found everywhere the memory of our compatriot who, by the uprightness of his character and his natural benevolence, had acquired the regard and the affection of the natives."

Sixteen years later, when the French explorer Dr. Paul Neis traveled up the Nam Khan River, he found only "a few bricks scattered on the ground," indicating the monument had deteriorated. In 1887, Auguste Pavie arranged for a more durable crypt monument to be built, and a sala (a traditional open-sided pavilion) was constructed nearby to house and feed visitors to the white shrine. Further restoration work on the tomb was carried out in 1951 by the EFEO (French School of the Far East).

During the tumultuous years of the Second Indochina War, Mouhot's tomb was once again reclaimed by the jungle and became lost. It was not rediscovered until 1989 by French scholar Jean-Michel Strobino, working alongside Lao historian Mongkhol Sasorith. Strobino organized the monument's restoration with support from the French embassy and the Municipality of Montbéliard, Mouhot's birthplace. A new plaque was affixed to one end of the crypt in 1990 to commemorate this rediscovery. The site is now accessible to tourists and is known to hotels and tour operators in Luang Prabang. Visitors can hire a minivan or a tuk-tuk for the 6.2 mile ^{(10 km)} journey from town, followed by a walk of approximately 820 ft ^{(250 m)} down a steep track near a sharp bend on the road to Luang Prabang Railway Station, passing several small riverside restaurants before reaching the tomb.

7.2. Academic and Public Recognition

The widespread popularity of Angkor generated by Mouhot's vivid writings significantly contributed to public support for a major French role in the study and preservation of the ancient site. French scholars and institutions subsequently carried out the majority of research and conservation work on Angkor for many years. In addition to his impact on archaeology and cultural heritage, Mouhot's contributions to natural history are recognized through the naming of two species of Asian reptiles in his honor: Cuora mouhotii, a turtle, and Oligodon mouhoti, a snake.