The Greeks in the Egyptian campaign of Sudan in 1821

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in Sudan’)

In 1821, the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, moved southwards of Egypt in order to take control of the commercial activity which was conducted in the Sudanese territories. The army was a mosaic of ethnicities including a few Greeks who followed the Egyptian army as officers, interpreters and suppliers. Therefore, there were several Greek doctors, such as Dimitris Botsaris, Xenophon Xenoudakis, George Douloglou, Stylianos Laskaris and Paul Dranet.

From Crete to Constantinople and then to Zambia: The life story of the first Greek of Zambia in the 1880s

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in Zambia’)

Nikos Vlachakis left Malia of Crete and settled in Constantinople in the 1880s. In 1884, he embarked on a ship and arrived in Beira, in the then Portuguese East Africa where he began working on the railway project. A few months later, he settled in Chirundu of Northern Rhodesia, next to Zambezi River.

In 1889, he went back to Constantinople and brought his brother Dimitris to Rhodesia. They were originally involved in trade and hunting. In 1913, they were given 510 hectares of land and created the farm 'Demetra'.

Living conditions were particularly difficult in that area and wildlife attacks were a daily occurrence. In such a lion attack, Nikos Vlachakis was fatally injured and died in 1913. In the ensuing decades, Dimitris acquired a boat carrying passengers from one bank of Zambezi River to another.

The two brothers came close to the local population and married women from the local tribes. Nikos had a daughter and Dimitris had twenty-four children.