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Michel Peissel | |
|---|---|
 Michel Peissel, 2010 | |
| Born | (1937-02-11)February 11, 1937 |
| Died | October 7, 2011(2011-10-07) (aged 74) |
| Occupations | Ethnologist, writer |
| Years active | 1958–2006 |
Michel Georges Francois Peissel (February 11, 1937 – October 7, 2011) was a French ethnologist, explorer and author.[1] He wrote twenty books mostly on his Himalayan and Tibetan expeditions. Peissel was an emeritus member of theExplorers Club and a Fellow of theRoyal Geographical Society.
Peissel was the son of a French diplomat, raised in England after his father was posted to London, and able to speak English from early childhood. He later became fluent in several languages, including Tibetan.[1] He studied for a year atOxford University and theHarvard Business School and obtained a doctorate in Tibetan Ethnology from theSorbonne, Paris.
In 1958, at the age of 21 — stranded on the coast ofQuintana Roo,Mexico,— he walked 200 miles (320 km) down the coast toBelize discovering, on the way, 14 unrecorded Mayan archeological sites.[2] This journey changed his life, and is an account of Quintana Roo State that unveils a world where 'chicleros', 'cocaleros' and Mayan fishermen ruled a vast and mostly unexplored region of North America. Today millions of vacationers stay in places Peissel once walked, and his often humorous accounts tell us much about contemporary Mayan culture. He left the Harvard Business School after a year, deciding to study ethnology and explore the last unknown regions of Tibet and the Himalayas.
In 1959, Peissel organised his first Himalayan expedition out of Harvard to study theSherpas of theEverest district.[3]
In 1964, he set out across the Himalayas to exploreMustang, a minute, Tibetan-speaking kingdom whose identity had escaped the attention of both scholars and the general public. His written account of the expedition,Mustang: A Lost Tibetan Kingdom, was published in 1967 and became an international best seller.
The Mustang expedition was followed by 28 others to the remotest regions of the Tibetan-speaking world. In 1968, he became one of the first foreigners to crossBhutan and study its little-known eastern districts. He then made the first detailed study of the Kingdom ofZanskar inKashmir, later studying the Minaro (Dards) ofBaltistan andLadakh, while attempting to locate precisely the "land of the gold digging ants" ofHerodotus.
In 1973, he crossed the Himalayas byhovercraft, between MountsAnnapurna andDhaulaghiri. Later, he travelled by hovercraft up theGanges,[4] in India, and also down the eastern coast of theYucatán Peninsula, in Mexico, after having invented and patented the first single-fan hovercraft.(patent).[3] He enjoyed saying he had "pioneered the sport of shooting up rapids".
In 1986, he became one of the first foreigners to penetrate Tsari and thegorges of theBrahmaputra in tropicalTibet.
In 1994, he led an expedition to locate the elusive source of theMekong River, following the Dza Nak (the black Mekong, the historical main branch of the river), believing that he had discovered the source of Asia's third longest river.[5] Ten years later, a Sino-Japanese expedition proved that the geographical source (the farthest from the sea) lies at the headwaters of the white Mekong, Dza Kar, which satellite photos show to be 4500 meters longer than what Peissel called the historical branch. Thus, like theMississippi, theYellow and countless other rivers, the Mekong is considered to have a geographical source and a historical source.
In 1995, after previous investigations and research on Tibetan breeds of horses during which he had discovered theNangchen horse, he organised an expedition with the veterinary scholar Dr Ignasi Casas which led to the identification of a yet unknown archaic breed of horses: theRiwoche horse. (See note below.)
In 1987, with Mexican archeologists, Peissel built a giant seagoing Mayan dugout canoe and paddled and sailed 500 miles (800 km) down theYucatan andBelize coasts to demonstrate the role of maritime commerce by the Chontal Itzas in the 10th century collapse of the Mayan lowland cities.
In 1989, having built a replica of a Viking long boat, Peissel and a crew of six rowed and sailed up the riverDvina and down theDnieper 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) across theSoviet Union, from theBaltic to theBlack Sea; an expedition meant to recreate that of theVarangians, the founding fathers of Kievan Rus' in the 8th century.[4]
Peissel produced, directed or initiated 22 documentary films on his expeditions, including a four-part series in 1980 by the BBC on "Zanskar, the Last Place on Earth" and a Smithsonian exploration special for the Arts and Entertainment Channel on the source of the Mekong. Other films and videos are viewable on the French National Archives website.(INA)
Michel Peissel was married first to Marie-Claire de Montaignac, with whom he had two sons (Jocelyn and Olivier), then to Missy Allen, with whom he had a daughter (Octavia) and a son (Morgan). He was married to Roselyne Le Bris with whom he had a son (Valentin).
