АУТОР / AUTHOR(S): Eric Fouache 
DOI: 10.46793/CSGE5.02EF
САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:
Jovan Cvijić (1865–1927) was a physical geographer, which is only one aspect of his field of endeavor but the one I will focus on in this presentation. As such, he played a role in the development of this discipline at national and international levels.
His personal qualities were crucial to this recognition, but the intellectual background of the second half of the 19th century and the transnational context of the Austro-Hungarian Empire facilitated this threefold development. With his thesis entitled Das “Karstphänomen” (“The Karst phenomena”), defended in Vienna in 1883, he succeeded in providing synthetic knowledge about the Karst and establishing a vocabulary and concepts (such as doline, uvala, polje) that have endured to this day.
In Vienna, in contact with his professors, starting with Penck, he fully embraced a modern geography based on field observations as opposed to a cabinet geography, a geography that needed to be illustrated by drawing or photography. His physical geography hypotheses needed to be supported by solid naturalist and physical knowledge. It was in this spirit that he carried out his successive responsibilities in Serbia, both at the University of Belgrade and at the Geographical Society, and that he subsequently extended his research to other areas of physical geography: climatology, hydrology, impact of last glaciation, fluvial erosion, limnology, etc.
His knowledge of the French, German and Serbian languages enabled him to exchange ideas with his peers throughout Europe (Penck, Tomaschek, Martel, De Martonne, De la Blache, etc.) and to develop his hypotheses in line with these exchanges. He also shared his work through courses abroad, most notably in Paris in 1917 and 1918, and through publications in international journals. Thus, he strengthened his academic authority at national and international levels.
It is in the field of karstology that Cvijic’s work remains most up-to-date, and his approach to field work, his constant exchanges with his peers, his concern for international issues and the practice of open geography are the foundations of modern physical geography.
КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:
Cvijić; physical geography; karstology; geomorphology; epistemology