author
Henri Mouhot
1826–1861
Drawn by curiosity and a love of the natural world, this 19th-century French explorer journeyed through Siam, Cambodia, and Laos and helped bring Angkor to wide Western attention. His travel journals mix adventure, close observation, and a lasting sense of wonder at Southeast Asia’s landscapes and ruins.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Montbéliard, France, in 1826, Henri Mouhot was a French naturalist and explorer best known for his travels in Southeast Asia in the late 1850s. He spent time in Russia as a young man, later traveled widely in Europe, and eventually set out on expeditions through Siam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Mouhot is remembered especially for the accounts he wrote about Angkor, whose temple ruins amazed him and, through his published journals, captivated many readers in Europe. He also collected zoological and botanical specimens, showing a strong interest in the natural world as well as in the places and people he encountered.
His travels were cut short when he died in Laos in 1861, at only 35 years old. Yet the journals published after his death gave his work a long afterlife, preserving a vivid picture of 19th-century travel and helping make his name closely linked with Angkor and the exploration of mainland Southeast Asia.