Dragutin Lerman (24 August 1863 - 12 July 1918) was a Croatian

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Biography

Lerman was born in Požega,

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...

, but he left his home very early. He was a member of the 1882

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa Cen ...

expedition to Congo and was one of Stanley's most trusted men. ''("The

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...

is energetic, cautious, in high spirits...")'' Later, he was the confidant of Leopold II, King of the Belgians and the very

representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

of the

Belgian government The Federal Government of Belgium ( nl, Federale regering, french: Gouvernement fédéral, german: Föderalregierung) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretary of state ("junior", or deputy-mini ...

in the Congo. His first exploration trip lasted from 1882 to 1885, the second from 1888 to 1890, and the third between 1892 and 1894. The fourth lasted six months during 1896. During the journey through Congo in 1882, he discovered huge waterfalls on the Kouilou River, (or

Kwil KWIL (790 AM, "KWIL For Christ") is a radio station licensed to serve Albany, Oregon, United States. The station is owned by Extra Mile Media, Inc. Programming KWIL broadcasts a religious radio format to the greater Corvallis, Oregon, area. K ...

), and named them the

Zrinski chutes Zrinski () was a Croatian- Hungarian noble family, a cadet branch of the Croatian noble tribe of Šubić, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe in the Kingdom of Croatia's union with the Kingdom of Hungar ...

to honor the national family of rulers (

Nikola Zrinski Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...

and

Petar Zrinski Petar IV Zrinski ( hu, Zrínyi Péter) (6 June 1621 – 30 April 1671) was Ban of Croatia (Viceroy) from 1665 to 1670, general and a writer. A member of the Zrinski noble family, he was noted for his role in the attempted Croatian-Hungarian Magna ...

of Međimurje) from his native country. His diary was transferred into two books. The first, published in 1891 under the title ''

Dnevnik iz Afrike Dnevnik means "The Daily" or "Daily News" in South Slavic languages. It can also be translated as "Diary". Closely related Slavic variants of the word are Deník (Czech) Dziennik (Polish) and Дневник (Russian). It may refer to: ;In broad ...

'' (Diary from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

), was written and printed by his friend from Požega,

Julije Kempf Julije Kempf (25 January 1864 – 6 June 1934) was a Croatian historian and writer. Kempf was born in Požega, Slavonia. After graduating from Požega gymnasium, he attended teachers school in Zagreb. Afterwards, he worked in Novi Vinodolski ...

, whom Lerman informed about the course of the exploration. The second one was published in 1894 with the title ''

Novi dnevnik iz Afrike Novi may refer to the following : Places and jurisdictions Balkans * Novi Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Novi Sad, a city in Serbia * the former Catholic Diocese of Novi, with see at Herceg-Novi (Castelnuovo), in Montenegro; now a Latin titu ...

'' (New diary from Africa). Lerman provided inspiration for two additional explorers (

Mirko and Stjepan Seljan Mirko Seljan (5 April 1871 – c. 1913) and Stjepan Seljan (19 August 1875 – 7 June 1936) were Croatian explorers. Early life The brothers were born in Karlovac, Croatia (at the time part of Austria-Hungary). After receiving a basic ed ...

) who were mapping

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

at the turn of the 20th century. A big part of the collection that Lerman brought home from the Congo, 493 artifacts, was donated to the

Ethnographic Museum Ethnographic museums conserve, display and contextualize items relevant to the field of ethnography, the systematic study of people and cultures. Such museums include: List by country/region Albania * Ethnographic Museum of Kavajë, * Gjirokast� ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and has been part of the permanent exhibition ever since. His original diary is in the archives of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop Jo ...

. He died in

Kreševo Kreševo ( sr-cyrl, Крешево, ) is a town and municipality located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kreševo is a mountainous town, located in a narrow valley of the ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, where his gravestone is still visible.

Sources

External links

Croatian Cartographers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerman, Dragutin 1863 births 1918 deaths People from Požega, Croatia Croatian explorers Explorers of Africa