Troitskii, V.V.: A Journey to Central Africa

Title

Poezdka v Tsentral’nuiu Afriku, “Ezhegodnik zoologicheskogo muzeia Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk”, 1915 (20), 2, p. XXXI-XXXV

A Journey to Central Africa

Keywords

Summary

This concise report informs on the main stops of Troitskii’s journey through Central Africa in 1912-1914, focusing primarily on the species he observed during his two-year stay in this region. The report is accompanied by a map, detailing Troitskii’s itinerary.

Bio

Vladimir Troitskii was a Russian and Soviet zoologist, biologist and researcher. Born in Tambov in the family of a bank clerk, Troitskii enrolled at the University of Moscow in order to study zoology. Already during his studies, he took part in several research projects in Italy, the Urals, the Caucasus, the Red Sea and Egypt. Having graduated in 1911, he decided to undertake a scientific expedition to Central Africa, a project that was supported by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, as well as the Zoological Museums of the Imperial Academy of Science and of the Moscow University. It also received the approval of Swedish professor Gustav Retzius. The expedition lasted from February 1912 to March 1914, two years during which Troitskii visited Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. In addition to his observations, he also gathered a collection of material culture, which he donated to the Anthropological Museum of the Moscow University, and a zoological one, which he gifted to the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences. In addition to the official report A Journey to Central Africa, he also wrote an article for “Russkoe slovo” (Two Years in Central Africa, 29.03.1914) and another one for “Vokrug sveta” (Two Years in Africa, 1914, 19-20). In Soviet times, he published an educational book on his experience, which he conceived with his colleagues at the State Botanical Institute (A Journey to the Land of Blacks, 1928). He worked as a researcher for many Soviet institutions.

Sources

M. Zabrodskaia, Russkie puteshestvenniki po Afrike, Moskva 1955, p. 77-78;

M. Gremiatskii, Pamiati V.V. Troitskogo, “Voprosy antropologii”, 1963, 14, p. 112-114;

E. Balakhonova, V.V. Troitskii i ego kollektsiia v Muzee antropologii, “Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta”, Seriia XXIII, 2009, 3, p. 55-65.

 A.F.

Gallery