Sima Trojanović (

Šabac Šabac ( sr-Cyrl, Шабац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river ...

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...

, 2 February 1862 –

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, 21 November 1935) was a Serbian ethnologist and the first university-trained

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, director of the

Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade The Ethnographic Museum ( sr-Cyrl, Етнографски музеј) is a museum located in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is one of the oldest museums in the Balkans. The Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade fulfills its mission together with t ...

, university professor in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

and member of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...

Biography

Sima Trojanović was born in Šabac in 1862 to a merchant family. His father was originally from

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

, and his mother from

Srem Syrmia ( Ekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srem, Срем, separator=" / " or Ijekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srijem, Сријем, label=none, separator=" / ") is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is ...

. He finished high school in Šabac and

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city settlement's population was 28,111 in the 2021 census, while the total population was 30,842, making it the largest town of the county. It is a local tr ...

. He graduated from universities in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where he studied

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

. He defended his doctoral dissertation at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

on 4 August 1885, majoring in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. He started working as a teacher of German in a

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Čačak Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Чачак, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population ...

in 1886. After that he moved to

Loznica Loznica ( sr-cyrl, Лозница, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city located in the Mačva District of western Serbia, on the right bank of the Drina river. In 2022 the city had a total population of 19,515, while the administrative area had a ...

, and from 1894 taught there at a gymnasium. In 1898 he received government travel

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

to study

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

and physical anthropology in Vienna, Munich and Prague for two years. When he returned in 1901, he was named director of the newly-founded Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade. Like most European museums of the time, Trojanović exhibited ethnological treasures in a rather aestheticizing way, and its policy was under the influence of national politics of that time. In the world exhibitions that the museum participated in, the material was selected by Sima Trojanović. He was a

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

and manager of Belgrade's Ethnographic Museum until 1921 when he was appointed full professor of ethnography at the Faculty of Philosophy in

. Works by Sima Trojanović have had lasting value for Serbian anthropology. He was first elected a corresponding member of the

Serbian Royal Academy The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel laureates Ivo ...

on 19 February 1921.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trojanović, Sima Serbian anthropologists Serbian paleontologists 1862 births 1935 deaths People from the Kingdom of Serbia People from the Principality of Serbia sr:Сима Тројановић

Biography

See also

References