Zamfir Arbore

Zamfir Arbore
Arbore's portrait, painted by his daughter Nina, ca. 1914
Born	(1848-11-14)November 14, 1848 Chernowitz, Duchy of Bukovina, Austrian Empire
Died	April 2, 1933(1933-04-02) (aged 84) Bucharest, Romania
Other names	Zamfir Arbure, Zemphiri Ralli, Z. K. Ralli, Aivaza
Academic background
Influences	Mikhail Bakunin, Karl Marx, Élisée Reclus
Academic work
Era	19th and 20th centuries
School or tradition	Anarchist, Narodnik, Socialist
Main interests	ethography, sociology, social geography, economic geography, political geography, philology, popular history, Slavic studies
Notable works	Basarabia în secolul XIX (1898) Dicționar geografic al Basarabiei (1904)

Zamfir Constantin Arbore (Romanian pronunciation: [zamˈfir konstanˈtin ˈarbore]; born Zamfir Ralli, Russian: Земфирий Константинович Арборе-Ралли, Zemfiriyi Konstantinovich Arborye-Ralli; also known as Zamfir Arbure, Zamfir Rally, Zemphiri Ralli and Aivaza;^[1] November 14, 1848 – April 2 or April 3, 1933) was a Bukovinian-born Romanian political activist originally active in the Russian Empire, also known for his work as an amateur historian, geographer and ethnographer. Arbore debuted in left-wing politics from early in life, gained an intimate knowledge of the Russian revolutionary milieu, and participated in both nihilist and Narodnik conspiracies. Self-exiled to Switzerland, he became a member of the International Workingmen's Association. Arbore was mostly active as an international anarchist and a disciple of Mikhail Bakunin, but eventually parted with the latter to create his independent group, the Revolutionary Community. He was subsequently close to the anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus, who became his new mentor.

Arbore settled in Romania after 1877, and, abandoning anarchism altogether, committed himself to the more moderate cause of socialism. His campaign against Russian despotism also led him to champion the cause of freedom for Bessarabia region, to which he was personally tied by his family history. These commitments resulted in Arbore's outside support for the Russian Revolution of 1905, when he and Petru Cazacu founded the Swiss-based Basarabia newspaper. Arbore had by then earned academic credentials with his detailed works on Bessarabian geography, and, as a cultural journalist, cultivated relationships with socialist and National Liberal activists. He was also notoriously the friend of poet Mihai Eminescu in the 1880s, and worked closely with writer Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu during the 1890s.

During World War I, Zamfir Arbore provoked controversy when he supported a Romanian alliance with the Central Powers, justified in his opinion by a need to liberate Bessarabia. Despite this, and although he publicly welcomed the October Revolution, Arbore was reintegrated into the political scene of Greater Romania, serving two terms in Senate. Before his death in 1933, he was drawn into agrarian and cooperativist politics, and was successively a member of the Peasants' Party and the People's Party. Arbore was survived by his two daughters, both of them famous in their own right: Ecaterina was a communist politician and physician; Nina a modern artist.