Laos: A French expedition camps at night by the banks of the Mekong River in 1867.

This drawing by Louis Delaporte is one of dozens he produced during his two-year venture (1866-68) with the Mekong Exploration Commission, which was sponsored by the French Ministry of the Navy. The intention of the expedition was to lay the groundwork for the expansion of French colonies in Indochina. Traveling the Mekong by boat, the small French delegation voyaged from Saigon to Phnom Penh to Luang Prabang, then farther north into the uncharted waters of Upper Laos and China's Yunnan province, before returning to Hanoi in 1868 by foot, accompanied by porters and elephants.

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