(abstract
from ''The Greek community in Mozambique''
The Greek
presence in Lourenço Marques dated back to 1878 and is related to the political
and economic conditions in the neighbouring Transvaal area of South Africa. During
the 1880s, a few Greeks immigrated to South Africa to work in the diamond mines
of Kimberley and in the gold mines of Witwatersrand also included Greeks. During
the wars between the British and the Boers (1880-1881, 1899-1902) the mines
ceased their operation and few workers moved eastwards and settled in Lourenço
Marques.
Some of them
remained temporarily, until the reopening of the gold mines in Transvaal.
However, because of the extremely difficult and unhealthy working conditions in
the diamond mines of Kimberley and the gold mines of Johannesburg, many workers
resigned. Some of them made a career change and remained in South Africa while
others moved to the nearby Lourenço Marques.
The Greek emigration flow, from
South Africa to Lourenço Marques, intensified with the beginning of the works
on the railway line, which departed from the port of Lourenço Marques and ended
in the heart of the Transvaal, in Pretoria.
Some of the Greek immigrants of the late 19th century were John
Mihaletos, Dimitris Sideris, Dimitris Spanos,Efstratios Daskalakis, Joseph
Liarantonakis, Panayiotis Adrianopoulos and Vasilis Kastritsios.
