Naši izvaneuropski putnici istraživači
Our Explorers Outside of Europe

Summary/Abstract: Croatian explorers of non-European, countries, Dragutin Lerman and the brothers Seljan, completely belonged to the 19th century by their activities and viewpoints. Dragutin Lerman (1863—1918) was a member of the Stanley Congo-expedition and lived in Congo from 1882 to 1896, serving the Belgian government in a number of posts. The most important one was the post of the Governor of Eastern Congo in 1895/6. Also, whenever Henry Morton Stanley, the royal governor of Congo, was absent, Lerman would take his place. Lerman’s papers on Congo were used at the Congress of Berlin in 1884/5. Lerman left a priceless diary which is kept in the archives of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb. Lerman also donated a considerable inventory of the material culture of Congo to then National Museum of Zagreb. Today the collection is in possession of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. The Seljan brothers, Mirko (1871—1913) and Stevo (1875—1936), lived in Ethiopia from 1899 to 1902 as governors of several southern provinces. From their Uba residence they executed the Emperor’s orders and at the same time commenced their geographic and ethnographic research. They collected ethnographic material, and this valuable cultural inventory is presently in the possession of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. The Seljans left Ethiopia at the beginning of 1902. In 1903, they went to Brasil where they established the »Mision Cientifica Croata«, an enterprise through which they negotiated numerous business transactions with South American states and business corporations. During their expeditions, they studied the life and culture of the Indians. They also collected ethnographic material which is today kept in the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. In 1913, Mirko tragically lost his life in unexplored virgin-forest of Peru. Stevo kept living in Brasil, near the town of Ouro Preto, where he died in 1936. Dragutin Lerman and the Seljan brothers were the true founders of Croatian non-European ethnology.

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