Alexandrine Tinne

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Dutch explorer in Africa and the first European woman to attempt to cross the Sahara. She was also the first talented female photographer of the Netherlands. Alexandrine was the daughter of Philip Frédéric Tinne (18 November 1772, Den Haag - 27 July 1844, Spa), a Dutch sugar merchant, ship ownner and diplomat who settled in England during the Napoleonic wars and later returned to his native land, and of Baroness Henriëtte Maria Louise van der Capellen (1 April 1796, Amsterdam - 20 July 1863, Bongo Soedan), the eldest daughter of a famous Dutch Vice-Admiral, Jonkheeer Theodorus Frederik van Capellen (6 September 1761, Nijmegen - 15 April 1824, Brussel) and Petronella de Lange (29 March 1779, Rotterdam - 11 may 1835, Den Haag). They married 10 January 1831 in Den Haag. Henriëtte was Philip's second wife, and Alexandrine was born when he was sixty-three. Young Alexandrine was tutored at home, and showed a proficiency at piano. When her wealthy father died when she was ten years old, it left her the richest heiress in the Netherlands. She and her mother travelled extensively in Norway, Italy and the Middle East, and visited Egypt. Alexandrine (as she preferred to be called) and Henriëtte were the first western women to navigate up the White Nile and pass the magical 4 degree latitude, arriving at Gondokoro on 30 September 1862. Falling ill at that point Alexandrine was not able to proceed and forced to return to Khartoum. Vague plans about joining in the search for the source of the Nile were not to be fulfilled. On her second journey to the Gazelle-river Alexine Tinne, as well, became the first western woman to reach the borders of the lands of the Azande in the summer of 1863. On her last journey to the Touareg-countries, moreover, she was the first western woman to enter the Sahara, reaching the area between Murzuq and Ghat in July 1869, where after she was killed on 1 August 1869. Alexandrine Tinne became the first female photographer in the Netherlands who achieved in producing some 40 large sized photographs of locations at The Hague and of the interiors of her house at the Lange Voorhout 32. In the early morning of 1 August on the route from Murzuk to Ghat she was murdered together with two Dutch sailors in her party, allegedly by Tuareg in league with her escort. According to the statements, given at the trial in Tripoli in December 1869/January 1870, two blows of a sword (one in her neck, one on one of her hands) made her collapse. They left her to bleed to death. Her body was never found. There are several theories as to the motive, none of them proven. Link to Wikipedia biography