Gaetano Casati was an Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 and an explorer of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, born in Lesmo

Lesmo

Lesmo is a comune in the Province of Monza and Brianza in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 25 km northeast of Milan....

 in upper Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. After studying at the Academy in Pavia

Pavia

Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...

 he entered the Italian army in 1859 and served there until 1879. On December 24, 1879, he sailed for Africa under commission of the Società d'Esplorazione Commerciale d'Africa. He followed the course of the Welle river and explored the basin of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. In 1882 he was held prisoner for some time by a native chief. In 1883 he joined Emin Pasha

Emin Pasha

Mehmed Emin Pasha — he was born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer and baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer — was a physician, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile...

 and was shut in with him by the Mahdi insurrection, subsequently lived in the Kingdom of Kabba Rega, was condemned to death by the monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

, but escaped to Lake Albert Nyanza, where Emin Pasha rescued him in 1888. In December. 1889, Casati reached the coast with Emin Pasha and Stanley

Henry Morton Stanley

Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...

. Besides reports, he published Dieci anni in Equatoria

Equatoria

Equatoria is a region in the south of present-day South Sudan along the upper reaches of the White Nile. Originally a province of Egypt, it also contained most of Northern part of present day Uganda including Albert Lake...

(two volumes, 1891); English, Ten Years in Equatoria, 1891), especially valuable for its account of the Niam-Niam

Azande

The Azande are a tribe of north Central Africa. Their number is estimated by various sources at between 1 and 4 million....

, whom he visited in 1883.