Final answer:
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor was the British scholar who first brought the concept of animism to the attention of anthropologists. He identified animism as a protoreligion, related to the belief that spiritual agency exists in non-human entities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of animism was first brought to the attention of anthropologists by the British scholar Sir Edward Burnett Tylor. Tylor identified animism as a protoreligion, a starting point for the development of all religions. He believed that animism was based on the belief that spiritual agency exists not only in humans but also in plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.