ANDREA DEBONO
Andrea Debono, born in Isla on November 7th, 1821. His father Michael was a merchant navy captain. Debono had only 1 sister, his twin, named Battistina. Growing up Andrea studied chemistry and medicine. His family emigrated to Egypt and settled in Alexandria, at the time he worked in a hospital. When his parents died, he and his sister left Alexandria and went to Cairo. He then left and went to Khartoum, Sudan where he started a new life. He married Victoria, an Ethiopian, and had 3 children of whom only 1 survived. He started a corn mill and was involved in the production of building material. In 1851 he adopted the name Latif Effendi as he started working for the Egyptian governor of Sudan. Andrea got involved in the ivory trade, and employed around 400 people between porters and boatmen.
He began exploring the Nile and was the first European to explore the Sobat River tributary of the White Nile. He reached the Djiamoudj rapids in April 1853, and obtained knowledge of Lake Albert and the Semliki River. Between 1854 and 55, together with his wife and son, he made a 480 km journey to the mouth of the Sobat river.
Between 1855 and 1856 Debono served as the British Consular Agent in Khartoum. He continued his explorations and also wrote a book on his travels. Unfortunately, his story does not end so well. He was accused together with his nephew of being involved in slave trading. These charges were later dropped but Andrea’s reputation was ruined beyond repair. After the death of his nephew and with his health deteriorating, he sold his property in Sudan and returned to Cairo. He died aged 49 on 29th October 1871.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Debono#cite_note-kunsill-1
https://web.archive.org/web/20200216070552/http://www.islalocalcouncil.com/promseng.htm
