François Coillard ( French: François Coillard ; July 17, 1834 , Agnere-le-Bourget near Bourges , Cher department - May 27, 1904 , Lealui, Barotselend (now Zambia ) - French missionary of the Protestant Paris Society of Evangelical Missions. Founder of the first mission in Basutolend poet , writer , translator , author of the words of the national anthem of Lesotho .
| Francois Quayyar | |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | |
| A country | |
| Occupation | |
Biography
He was born the youngest of 8 children of the Huguenot family. Soon lost his father. Educated at the University of Strasbourg , where he studied theology . In 1857 he was ordained. In the same year, the missionary went to South Africa.
He founded the Leribe missionary station in Lesotho and Sefula in Zambezi , was active in Basutolend along the Zambezi River , despite the conflicts in South Africa and the civil war. He undertook several expeditions along the Zambezi River, for which he received the nickname "French Livingstone ."
Communicating with the locals, he learned Sesotho , a Bantu language common in South Africa .
The author of a number of poems and short stories, he was engaged in translations from Sesotho . He wrote the words that became the national anthem of Lesotho - "Lesotho, the land of our fathers" (approved in 1967). The music of the anthem belongs to the Swiss composer Ferdinand-Samuel Lor .
During expeditions he fell ill with tropical fever and died in 1904.
Selected Works
- Sur le Haut-Zambèze: voyages et travaux de mission (1889)
- On the Threshold of Central Africa (1897).