Education
He studied mathematics and physics at Vienna and Venice.
He studied mathematics and physics at Vienna and Venice.
He worked as a professor in Rijeka, as well as managing the Velika Gimnazija in Split and acting as school superintendent. He was one of the first in Croatia to publish an academic book about nature. In 1862 he arranged for printing the book Pojavi iz prirode za pouku prostoga naroda from the works of an Italian author
He wrote popular articles in his field in the magazine Književnik.
He collaborated with Bogoslav Šulek on Riječnik znanstvenog nazivlja (Dictionary of Scientific Terms). Bakotić also published the book Vinarstvo.
His novel about Bosnian life with national liberation themes, Raja (Dhimmis), was published in installments in Iskra and Hrvatska and in entirety in Dom i svijet.
He was one of the chief members of the Croatian National Revival in southern Croatia. He campaigned for teaching Croatian in Dalmatian schools and was also a member of the Narodni list newspaper.