Drago Popovic
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Drago Popović (Risan, near Boka Kotorska, Venetian Republic, 1799 - Rome, Italy, 2 April 1887) was a Serbian shipping magnate out of Trieste. He was a great philanthropist who helped Miloš Obrenović's Principality of Serbia and Imperial Russia during the Crimean War.[1]
Drago Popović was the son of Risto and Anastasia, born in Risan, then part of the venetian Republic in 1799. He moved to Trieste before he was a teenager and acquired Austro-Hungarian citizenship by imperial decree. In 1816, he grew up in Trieste, where he attended the Naval Academy and after serving in the navy for 18 years, he became the captain of the ship "Dositej" (named after Dositej Obradovic) owned by his father Risto Popović. Together with his brother Spiro (Spiridon), he took part in the Greek War of Independence and was awarded several times for his bravery in battle. With their ships, whose crew members were always Serbian sailors from Kotor, he and his brother even reached the Sea of Azov and built numerous palaces in Odessa and the Crimea.[2]
He did business from England to Italy, from Serbia, to Russia.
In 1829, in Trieste, Drago married Eugenia D'Angeli, sister of the Mayor of Trieste. Their son Evgenije was born, though mother Eugenia died immediately after the birth. Drago was left to care after his son alone. The Crimean war threatened his business, mostly pressured by England and France, after helping Imperial Russia with shipping and transport of military and humanitarian aid with his fleet of merchant ships. In order to get rid of war-incumbered debts, Drago decided to sell the family palace and other properties. He did, however, soon enough regain his wealth and become one once again a member of the most distinguished group of Trieste shipowners. He participated in works of the Trieste Chamber of Commerce on reorganization and protection Merchant Navy, was a member of the Port Reconstruction Commission and protector, supporter and guarantor of all Serbian naval captains from Dalmatia and Montenegro before Austrian Lloyd. At this time Trieste had become one of Europe's leading maritime insurance centers with the founding of Societá Slava di Assicuranzione maritime by Serbs (1830)[3], Adriatico Banco di Assicurazione - maritime (1829) by Greeks and Lloyd Austriaco by Karl Ludwig von Bruck (1833). The Austrian Lloyd was founded in 1833 as a maritime information company which quickly added insurance, shipbuilding and repair, and merchant shipping to its operation, as well as integrating 19 sea transport insurance companies and banks in Trieste. Needless to say, among its many shareholders included Greek and Serbian shipowners and merchants.
Drago Popović was also was a Member of Parliament in the city administration of Trieste, and his "Plan and Regulations of the Administration for the Maritime School" (Draft and regulation of the Administration for Scuola di Mozzi e Novizi) was adopted at the assembly session of Trieste in October 1861.
Beside Serbian, he spoke perfect Italian, Russian, Greek and Turkish and was on friendly terms with most important European statesmen of the time. An ardent Serbian patriot, he was selfless at every opportunity to help the Serbian people in any way possible. He was on friendly terms with the Serbian Prince Mihajlo Obrenović, with whom he maintained correspondence since the 1840s until the prince's death. It was Drago Popović who financially aided the Herzegovinian insurgents in 1875, just as he helped the Montenegrin prince Nikola I of Montenegro in the uprising against the Turks, so he sent him his son Evgenije. Evgenije Popović spent three years in the ranks of Prince Nikola's army and took part in numerous battles.[4]
Drago Popović's greatest wish was to restore the Serbian language as well as its territorial integrity from the time of medieval Serbia. He thought that Italy should help and support the Serbian people in the fight for independence and it is fiery he presented his position before Count Cavour[5]and before Giuseppe Garibaldi, and later before Agostino Depretis, Bettino Ricasoli and other Italian political patriots and champions with whom he was in warm friendship. His home in Trieste was the center of communication the friendship of Italy and the aspirations of the Serbian people.
When he felt that his life was coming to an end, he wanted to do it he was in the circle of his closest ones, so he moved to Rome with his son.
He died on the night of 2 April 1887, in Rome, at his son Evgenije Popović's home. Many people came to his funeral, including top officials of Serbia and Greece. He was sent to eternal rest with two flags, a Serbian and a Greek, fluttering beside his coffin.
He was buried in the most famous cemetery in Rome where there is a high, imposing monument, with simple inscription: Serb Drago Popović.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ https://nardus.mpn.gov.rs/bitstream/id/61365/Doktorat
- ↑ https://nardus.mpn.gov.rs/bitstream/id/61365/Doktorat
- ↑ https://www.maticasrpska.org.rs/stariSajt/biografije/biografije_sbr5.pdf
- ↑ https://nardus.mpn.gov.rs/bitstream/id/61365/Doktorat
- ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/40105795
- ↑ https://nardus.mpn.gov.rs/bitstream/id/61365/Doktorat
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