About René Caillié
Source: Wikipedia
Auguste René Caillié (French pronunciation: [ʁəne kaje]; 19 November 1799 – 17 May 1838) was a French explorer and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu. Caillié had been preceded at Timbuktu by a British officer, Major Gordon Laing, who was murdered in September 1826 on leaving the city. Caillié was therefore the first to return alive. Caillié was born in western France in a village near the port of Rochefort. His parents were poor and died while he was still young.
