Dragutin Lerman | |
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| Born | 24 August 1863 |
| Died | 12 July 1918 (aged 54) |
| Nationality | Croatian |
| Occupation | explorer of Africa |
| Known for | discovery of the waterfalls on the Kouilou River named Zrinski chutes |
Dragutin Lerman (24 August 1863 - 12 July 1918) was a Croatian explorer.
Lerman was born in Požega, Slavonia, but he left his home very early. He was a member of the 1882 Henry Morton Stanley expedition to Congo and was one of Stanley's most trusted men. ("The Croat is energetic, cautious, in high spirits...")
Later, he was the confidant of Leopold II, King of the Belgians and the very representative of the Belgian government 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), and named them the Zrinski chutes to honor the national family of rulers (Nikola Zrinski and Petar Zrinski of Međimurje) from his native country.
His diary was transferred into two books. The first, published in 1891 under the title Dnevnik iz Afrike (Diary from Africa), was written and printed by his friend from Požega, Julije Kempf, whom Lerman informed about the course of the exploration. The second one was published in 1894 with the title Novi dnevnik iz Afrike (New diary from Africa). Lerman provided inspiration for two additional explorers (Mirko and Stjepan Seljan) who were mapping Africa and South America 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 in Zagreb 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.
He died in Kreševo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where his gravestone is still visible.
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Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of the Belgians which enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. He was knighted in 1897, and served in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North from 1895 to 1900.
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Mirko Seljan and Stjepan Seljan were Croatian explorers.
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The Kouilou-Niari River—also spelled Kwilu, Kwila, or Kwil—is the most important river flowing to the Atlantic Ocean of the Republic of the Congo coast. Moreover, its entire drainage area is completely in the Republic of the Congo. The river is called the Kouilou River while flowing in the coastal region of the Kouilou till the Sounda gorges. Upstream from the gorges, its name is the Niari River and it flows through the Niari Valley. The river combines with the Louessé, the Loudima and the Bouenza River and eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It covers about 560 km from its origin in the Batéké Plateau of the Congo to its mouth at the coast.
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Ljudevit Farkaš Vukotinović was a Croatian politician, writer and naturalist.
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The En Avant (Forward) was a small steam launch used in the early days of European exploration of the Congo River basin. It was carried in sections past the cataracts of the lower Congo, reassembled at Stanley Pool and launched in December 1881, the first powered vessel on the long navigable section between the cataracts and the Stanley Falls . In the years that followed it played an important role in exploring the Congo river system and carrying Europeans up and down the river and the tributaries as they established trading stations.
