40 photos carrées illustrant la première expédition belge au Tibet, vers 1908

Dim.: 6,5 x 6,5 cm (largest photo)

Most with a (partial) explanatory description on the back.

The likely source for these photographs is the special mission from 1908, conducted by Robert Geerts. The consulting engineer and chemist from Peng, Viceroy of Kan-su, was sent on a special mission to Tibet. At the head of the first Belgian mission in the region, he traveled through the Forbidden Country 'with all possible facilities'. He reported from his encounters with the nomads observations that were of real interest, long before David-Néel, but remained confined to relative anonymity. (source: Wikipedia - Histoire de l'exploration européenne du Tibet - link)

Ref.:
- Jo Gérard, Les grandes heures de la Belgique, 1990, where the author states: In 1909 Mr. Robert Geerts opens an industrial chemistry school, next to the Jao-Kai factory, to form Chinese technicians. It's also he who parts on an official mission to TIbet in 1908, a then still unexplored part of the world, from which he returns with an interesting study: With the nomads of Tibet. (link)
- Christian Goens, La présence de Robert Geerts dans la colonie belge de Lanzhou, Gansu (Chine, 1906-1911), for an interesting (mostly French, partly English) recap of Geerts' presence in China and Tibet. (link)