Justin Pouyanne

Justin Pouyanne (5 September 1835 – 22 November 1901) was a French cartographer and explorer. He became an engineer, and served in Algeria for his entire career from 1859 to 1900, where he undertook extensive surveys.

Life

Justin Pouyanne was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, on 5 September 1835. He entered the École Polytechnique in November 1853, and was admitted to the École des Mines on 10 October 1855. He graduated on 18 June 1858, ranked 6th. He was appointed Engineer 3rd class on 8 July 1859, and served in Algeria from 10 April 1859. He would spend all his career in Algeria. At his own request he was assigned to the Tlemcen district in 1859.

Pouyanne was promoted to Engineer 2nd class on 7 February 1863 and Engineer 1st class on 1 February 1869. He married Louise Joséphine Dax. They had two sons, Armand Albert Pouyanne (1873–1931) and Charles Pouyanne (1884–1975), both of whom made their careers with the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées. He transferred to Algiers in 1873 as engineer. He was made a knight of the Legion of Honour on 7 February 1878. He was appointed Chief Engineer 2nd class on 8 June 1878.

The Trans-Saharan expedition was appointed in 1879 by Charles de Freycinet, Minister of Public Works, to investigate construction of a railway across the Sahara. Three possible routes starting from Oran in the west, Algiers in the center and Constantine in the east were to be examined by three expeditions. The western expedition was led by Justin Pouyanne and the central one was led by the engineer Auguste Choisy and included Georges Rolland. These two expeditions would complete their work without difficulty. The eastern route was considered the most dangerous, going via the Hoggar Tuareg town of Rhat. Paul Flatters was chosen as leader of this mission, which ended in disaster.

Pouyanne was promoted to Chief Engineer 1st class on 16 July 1883. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honour on 13 July 1892. Later, rather than leave Algeria he turned down a promotion to General Engineer. In 1897 the post of Inspector General for Algeria, based in Algiers, was created especially for him in recognition of his great merit. He retired in September 1900, and gave up the direction of the geological map, which he had been working on for 20 years. He died in El Biar, Algiers, on 22 November 1901.

Publications

Publications by Justin Pouyanne include: