Crossing one of the most dangerous areas of the world-The incredible story of a Greek in the 1880s

Excerpt from the book-The Greek presence in the Horn of Africa

Sotiris Chryseos was born in Samos and in 1880 he settled in Aden where he engaged in trade. He was the first to trade in the Ogaden region, in the southeastern of Ethiopia, where local tribes were particularly aggressive toward foreigners. Chryseos, who knew the local languages​and customs, extended his activity to Mogadishu, creating a trade route that connected eastern Ethiopia with southern Somalia. In 1885 he expanded his activities in Zeila of Somalia with great success.

 

The first bakery in Malawi

 [excerpt from the book 'The Greek community in Malawi']

In 1928, Nikos Trataris left Lemnos and went to Beira to work for his uncle who had a farm. He worked from morning till night without a payment and after eight months he left for Malawi. He decided to set up the first bakery in Blantyre but he had no funds so he borrowed some money from his friend, George Cocorozis who was in Beira. He opened the “European bakery” which was later renamed to “Associates bakery”. In the 1950s, Trataris built an ultra modern and automatic bakery which was baking 1,200 loaves per hour. In 1955, it reached 8,000 loaves an hour. It was such an accomplishment that the owner of the biggest bakery of South Africa came to see it. In 1975, Trataris’s sons who were running the business were forced to sell it at a low price. One of them, George Trataris, who refused to cooperate was imprisoned for 18 months. 

 

 

The sad story of a Greek in Burundi

 Michael Iatrou was born in Agios Efstratios in the 1900s. In 1925 he immigrated to Congo and in 1944 he moved to Bujumbura in Burundi where he was involved in trade activities along with his brother Aristotelis. He was a prominent member of the local Greek community.

In 1961, Iatrou and seven other people were accused for the assassination of the prince Louis Rwagasore who had won the election a few months earlier. He was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for 20 years. However, in 1962 the decision was changed and Iatrou was sentenced to death. On January 14th 1963, he was executed.

Fifty years later, a Belgian reporter found out that those who organised and carried out the assassination were Belgian politicians who were against the independence of Burundi.

Greek pioneers in Malawi in the early 1900s

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

 Greek presence in Malawi (pr. Nyasaland) dates back to the 1900s. The pioneers of the Greek migration to Malawi were mainly from the Kefalonia island. These were Panagiotis and Themistocles Vasilatos, Themistocles Zepatos, Dionysis and Pavlos Focas and Gerasimos Kapatos. We should also add Nikos Deftereos from Ithaca, Antonis Giokarinis from Samos, Nikos Trataris, Yiannakis brothers (Nikos, Dimitris, Elefterios, Stavros, Stelios, Charalambos, Kostas), Christos Fergadiotis and Leonidas Malachias from Lemnos, George Benedictos and Dimitris Papadopoulos from Cyprus.

Greek heroes who resisted the Italian fascism in Ethiopia

 

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek presence in the horn of Africa’)

For lots of historians, WW2 started when 100,000 Italian soldiers attacked Ethiopia through Eritrea and Somalia in October 1935. Ethiopians resisted vigorously, but the invaders used ‘mustard gas’ against the civilian population during the bombings.

Among the Ethiopian forces defending the country was the Greek military commander of Sidamo, Savvas Karavasilis, from the Dodecanese. The Italians tried to bribe him offering him offices. Karavassilis refused and went on fighting. When Sidamo fell to the Italians, Karavasilis was arrested and executed. A Greek doctor, George Dassios, offered many services to the Ethiopian army during the war. In July 1935 he was head of the hospital in Dessie. When the city was bombarded Dassios treated several patients until the time he was arrested. After the liberation of the country, he was decorated by the emperor.

Members of the Ethiopian resistance were Efthimia Borovilla, wife of Vassilis Aslanidis who had given her home to the Ethiopian defenders and Wolete Amanuel, wife of Stelios Papatakis, who was the head of a resistance group.

 

 

For the first time -The history of the Greek community in Malawi

The Greek presence in Malawi (former Nyasaland) is dated back to the late 19th century when few pioneers settled in. During the 1930s, a massive wave from Lemnos brought lots of Greeks (like the Yiannakis, Trataris, Tselingas etc), who worked hard and became pillars of the local economy especially in the tobacco field, bakeries, trade and livestock. You can read the magnificent stories of those people in a book which was based on research in a wide range of records and includes lots of old pictures. 

 The book is available by the author Antonis Chaldeos (Email:anchald1997@hotmail.com) Pre-order the book till the end of November and get it with a 20% discount.

The death toll of the Greek pioneers in South Africa

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

 

Between 1890 and 1920, lots of Greeks who immigrated to South Africa worked in the mines along with other whites and African labourers. Most of them died from the fatal disease known as miner’s phthisis. Although they were suffering from the disease, they continued to work even harder because their duty to their families was much more important than any consideration of their health. Most of them were from Laconia, Cyprus and Crete, and died between the ages of 30 and 40. 

 

 

The first days in the life of a Greek in Mozambique

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

 

Panos Macropoulos left Smyrna in 1919 and immigrated to Mozambique. After an arduous journey of 40 days he arrived in Lourenco Marques. Then, he embarked on a ship and after 40 hours he reached Jangamo. There, he rode a horse for 25km through the jungle in order to reach the farm of another Greek where he would work. During the first year of his staying, he lived in a round hut with only a bed and table in it. The heat was unbearable. Tropical diseases like malaria and wild animal attacks made everyone’s daily life a true hell. However, Macropoulos worked hard and within the next decades became one of the pioneer industrialists in the history of Mozambique. 

 

The Greek contribution to the railways in Mozambique and Rhodesia

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

 Most Greeks who arrived in Beira (Mozambique) worked in the construction of the railway. Greeks, Indians, Chinese and other railway workers faced extremely difficulties, not only because of the type of the work but mainly because of the diseases that plagued the area and the wild animals attack. Almost 60% of the Europeans who built the railway line between Beira and Salisbury died from malaria. It should be mentioned that the Greek presence was crucial to the completion of the railway because of their prior experience in similar projects both in Asia Minor and Egypt, and their resistance to the difficult weather conditions and the dangers of the jungle.

The Greek football team in Sudan in the 1930s

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

In 1921, a football championship was launched in Khartoum with the participation of teams formed by members of the British administration and people of different nationalities. The “Hellenic Athletic Club” was one of those teams. Matches were usually held at Gordon College and there were two annual cups. In 1931, the Greek team played a total of 20 football matches with 14 wins, 3 defeats and 3 draws.

 

Migrants from Ithaca to South Africa in the 1890s

[Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in South Africa’]

Following the discovery of diamonds and gold, small groups from Ithaca immigrated to South Africa and worked as gold diggers, miners, railway workers and shop-owners. Some of the pioneers were Vlassopoulos, Frangos, Couvaras, Macris, Paxinos, Mouzakis, Adrianatos, Deftereos, Divanis, Drakopoulos, Gerontis, Kallinikos, Karantzis, Comnenos, Koutsouvelis, Maroudas, Moraitis, Paizis, Palmos, Raftopoulos, Sofianos, Sikiotis, Zaverdinos and others.