Andrijica Šimić

Who was Andrijica Šimić?

Andrijica Šimić was a hajduk from Herzegovina.

Andrija Šimić was born in Grude, into an ethnic Croats family of seven children: he had a brother and five sisters. At the age of ten, he moved to Mostar to work for the Ottoman aga Tikvina as a wage worker. He worked there until the age of 20, when he returned to his village.

The Ottoman Turkish taxmen harassed the local population, and at one point robbed his father at gunpoint. Andrijica was enraged and decided to become a hajduk, an outlaw, to fight the Turkish government. He was hunted down and imprisoned on several occasions, as he also pillaged and stole from Muslim and Christian wealthy men in the region. His robberies affected not only Ottoman but also Austro-Hungarian territory in inner Dalmatia, so even the Austrian authorities put a warrant for the arrest of him and his group.

He was joined by other young men and evaded the authorities for six years. They aimed to be outlaws in a manner similar to Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor peasants.