The Greek community in Kenya and Uganda

For the first time!!!! The history of the Greeks in Kenya and Uganda.

 Kenya and Uganda have been destinations of migration for the Greeks since the end of the 19th century. Initially it was a few risk-taking pioneers and later more people from Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Tanzania, mainly after the 1950s. The Greek migration resulted from the political and social conditions in the wider southeastern Mediterranean and the consequences of the strategy of the European colonial powers in East Africa.

Book is available exclusively by the author.

Greek pioneers in Mozambique-Struggling for a better life in the 1890s

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

During the first years of their settlement in Mozambique, Greeks who were involved in farming lived in huts equipped 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, Greeks worked hard and did it. You can read interesting stories in the relevant book.

 

The tragic story of a few Greek miners in Tanzania in the 1930s

 

In 1923 gold deposits were found in the Lupa River to the southwest of Tanzania. A gold rush developed in the area and some pioneer Greeks arrived. In 1938, there were at least 120 Greek ‘diggers’. But, conditions were harsh and only few of the Greeks were able to make money. The majority died as a result of the primitive and unhealthy conditions.

 

Greek pioneers in Burundi

(excerpt from the book 'The Greek community in Burundi and Rwanda) 

 

 In 1954, Christos Baïraktaris (Philipou) who left Lesvos and immigrated to Burundi, used for the first time the way of fishing sardines with a circular net. This was a landmark for the fishing on Lake Tanganyika.Gradually, more and more Greeks, mostly from Lesvos, took up fishing as ship owners or captains. 

 

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.