From Epirus to South Africa: The life story of the Greek hero in the Anglo-Boer war in South Africa in 1900

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

 

John Papacostas was born in Filiates of Epirus in 1868. In 1894, he immigrated to Australia but the following year he left for East Africa where he remained until 1896. Following the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer war in South Africa, he went down to the Transvaal and volunteered to fight against the British Army. In Stellenbosch, where he later settled in, he was called "the hero of the River Modder". In the Battle of the Modder, John Costas as was later was known in South Africa, was captured by the British and taken as a prisoner of war to a detention camp in Colombo in Ceylon (pr. Sri Lanka). In 1911, he returned to Greece and fought for the liberation of Epirus.

A Greek in the front line of the working class movement in South Africa and Mozambique, 1900-1920

 Working conditions in the diamond mines of Kimberley and the gold mines of Johannesburg were extremely difficult. In 1902, Dimitris Spanos tried to establish a miners’ association in Johannesburg, along with other Greeks. According to the narrations of his contemporaries, Spanos was the leader of the socialist movement

in South Africa. However, in 1903, for unknown reasons he left Johannesburg and settled in Lourenço Marques in Mozambique. There he started an agency that was responsible for the distribution of foreign newspapers and magazines, a pioneer business in the whole Mozambique. Although he was temporarily absent from the first line of the working class movement, Spanos distributed the newspaper of the Industrial Socialist League, International, from 1915 until 1921, trying to establish a local working association in Mozambique.

Greek traders in Tunis in the 1850s

 

[Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in Tunisia 16^th-21^st cen’]

 

In the mid-19th century, the Greeks controlled much of the trade between Tunisia and the eastern Mediterranean. In the period 1835-1859, one of the biggest merchants of Tunis was Stamatellos Maltezopoulos, who every year, with his family, went with his sailboat to Gargalianoi and returned with a load of gifts for the bey and his ministers. George Siganakis and Apostolos Varinopoulos had the exclusive trade of tobacco, importing tobacco from Central Asia and the Balkans. Another wealthy merchant was Gregory Poulos, from Filiatra. He used to import grapes from the Peloponnese but mainly exploiting the vineyards of Soukra, Marsa and Ras-Djebel. He produced syrup, what the Arabs called sboula, which he bottled and sold. Therefore, together with other compatriots, he was involved in the trade of Turkish delights and mastic. Finally Theodoros Tsetses, George Kougioutopoulos, Dimitris Kouvopoulos and Vasilis Kougiteas were engaged in the trade of salt and tobacco.

 

From Karpathos to Sudan in the 1900s

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

In the early 20^th century lots of masons and constructors left Karpathos and settled in Sudan. On November 12, 1906 they founded the “Omonia Educational Association” in order to support both their compatriots that had settled in Sudan and their place of origin. The Karpathians are the ones who built the Greek Orthodox church in Khartoum. We should note that in 1912, the association donated its property to the Greek state that was involved in the Balkan wars.

The Greek community of Cape Town

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

 

Cape Town was the main entry point for thousands of European immigrants. By 1904, it had more than doubled in size to 170,000 inhabitants, up from 79,000 in 1891. Inevitably, the first Greek organisation established in South Africa was the ‘Mutual Help Association’ of Cape Town. It was formed by the approximately 60 Greeks living in Cape Town in 1898. As the number of the Greeks was increased, the “Hellenic Community of Cape Town” (HCCT) was formed in 1902. Some of the pioneers were George Dedousis, Nikos Adelinis, Christos Paitakis, G. Apergis, John Callias, John Costas, Nicolaos Couvaras, Socratis Messaris, Ilias Karamalis, Athanasios Parisis, Athanasios Gouoles, Anastasios Zaimis, John Apostolatos, E. Georgiou, George Papavasiliou, Vasilios Scordilis, Angelos Flocos, Michael Macris, Spiros Paxinos, George Stavropoulos, Aristides Dracopoulos, Kyriakos Xanthopoulos, Constantine Constantios, Petros Petrantzas, George Charokopos, Constantine Mouzakis, Elias Beristianos, Antonis Mamakos, Panagiotis Mamakos, Photis Comnenos.

The establishment of the Greek community of Johannesburg

 

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

 

The discovery of gold in 1886 in the Witwatersrand changed the economic fortune of the formerly impoverished Transvaal. The city of Johannesburg was founded as a gold mining town in the same year and attracted migrants from Europe including a few Greeks. Within 10 years it would be the largest city in the entire Southern Africa. In 1908, the three Greek associations existed in the city amalgamated and the Hellenic community of Johannesburg was established. Within the following days more than 200 members were enrolled. Some of the pioneers of the community were Ioannis Chrisovelonis, Theodore Mentis, Kostas Phitidis, Menelaos Fardoulis, Dimitris Binos, Gerasimos Marinakis, S. Michalopoulos, Peter Demetrios, Kyriakos Stathakis, Pergioudakis and others.

The Greek community in South Africa

 

For the first time, the history of the Greek community in South Africa from the 19^th century up to date.

The book is the result of an extensive research in public and private collections in South Africa, Greece and Great Britain.

The luxury publication is available by the author Antonis Chaldeos (Email:anchald1997@hotmail.com)

Pre-order the book till the end of December and get it with a discount.

From Orient Express to the jungle of Africa -The life story of Apostolis Kavadias

[Excerpt from the book-The Greek community in Zambia]

 

Apostolis Kavadias was born in Kefalonia. He worked as an engineer in the Orient Express railway project that linked Paris to Constantinople.

In the late 19th century, the British began to build the railway line that would connect the port of Beira in Mozambique with Rhodesia and there was an increased demand for experienced staff. An advertisement in a Constantinople newspaper led Apostolis and his sons John, Panagiotis and Telemachus to Beira around 1900. Two years later, the sons of the Apostolis moved to Livingstone in Northern Rhodesia. They engaged in grain trade and safaris, and then they settled permanently in Pemba where they acquired a farm. 

 

 

 

From Cephalonia to Romania and then to Ethiopia: the story of the most trusted person of Haile Selassie

 (Excerpt from the book ‘The Greeks in the Horn of Africa’)

 Iacovos Zervos came from a trade family of Cephalonia, which had moved to Sulina of Romania in the mid-19th century. Zervos was born in Sulina, and later moved to Athens for medical studies. He arrived in Ethiopia in the early 1930s. He was hired as a doctor by Haile Selassie and soon he was appointed as a consul, by the Greek Foreign Ministry. Zervos became the most trusted person of the emperor. In 1953 he was honoured with the greatest distinction by the emperor, as he was proclaimed bitwoded (beloved), a title given only to members of the imperial family.

The Greeks in Burundi in the 1930s

 

[excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in Burundi-Rwanda’)

In the early 1930s, the region of eastern Congo was in a process of economic development a fact which also influenced Burundi. The Belgian administration was trying to connect the Katanga rail network, to the towns that were on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in order to obtain a better and faster transport of goods. For that reason, a railway line reached the port of Kalundu aiming to link the Belgian with the British railway line that crossed the south of the Congo, inside the territory of Rhodesia. According to the plan, the line would pass through Uvira which the Belgians had chosen to develop into a main commercial port on Lake Tanganyika. Due to problems that came up, the project was not completed. This fact led the Belgians to choose Usumbura (cur. Bujumbura) in Burundi as the new major hub of the area. Indeed, Usumbura attracted a flow of railway workers who stayed in the city’s two Greek-owned hotels. Soon, Greek traders from Congo expanded their activities.

 

 

The Greeks in South Africa in the 1920s

 One of the first activities of the Greeks in SA was the operation of tea rooms.

This is the business of Phitidis in Johannesburg

 

 

From Northern Epirus to Africa in the 1890s

 

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

Philipos Filios left Northern Epirus and immigrated to Zanzibar in 1891. Three years later he moved to South Africa. In 1900, he settled in Mombasa where he opened the ‘Cecil Hotel’ along with his brother Michael. That time, a few Greeks were settled in the city and were involved in trade activities. A decade later, Philipos Filios left for Kilimanjaro where he dealt with coffee plantations. He was one of the pioneers of the Greek community of Moshi in Tanzania.

 

 

The Greek community of Mozambique donates money to homeland during the WWI

 The Greek community of Mozambique maintained close links with their homeland. During the Balkan wars and the First World War, the Greek community of Beira offered money for the relief of the victims.

 

 

 

From Transvaal in South Africa to Mozambique: The Greeks and the Boers war in the 1900s

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

 

Between 1899 and 1902, the second war between the British and the Boers took place in South Africa. Few Greeks fought alongside the Boers and some of them who used to be traders in Transvaal, lost their properties as they were confiscated by the British. Therefore, to avoid the death or the confinement in the concentration camps, few of them fled to the nearby Lourenço Marques in Mozambique.

 

An enslaved Greek from Chios becomes the prime minister of Tunisia in the 1860s

 

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community in Tunisia 16h-21st cen’)

George Stravelakis or Halkias was born in 1817on the island of Chios. During the Chios massacre, Georgios's father was killed, while Georges along with his brother Ioannis and his mother Irene were captured and sold into slavery by the Ottomans. George was then taken to Smyrna and then Constantinople, where he was sold as a slave to the bey of Tunis. Stravelakis converted to Islam and was given the name Mustapha. He was raised by the family of the local Bey and soon became the state treasurer (khaznadar). He managed to climb to the highest offices of the Tunisian state and was promoted to lieutenant-general of the army, bey in 1840 and then president of the Grand Council from 1862 to 1878.

Mustafa Khaznadar retained memories of his Greek origin and supported his family in Greece by sending them money. Mustapha Khaznadar was a great benefactor to the Greek community of Tunis. In 1864 he donated an area of 9,905 sq.m. to be used as a cemetery. Later, in this area the church of St. George was erected. As a minimum recognition of Khaznadar's offer to the Greek compatriots, the Greek community of Tunis placed an honorary inscription.

 

The Greeks build the first Orthodox Church on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in Tanganyika

 (Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek community of Tanzania’)

Archimandrite Nicodemos Sarikas left Asia Minor in the early 20th century and immigrated to South Africa in 1907. In 1912 he settled in Moshi of Tanganyika where he started his missionary work and applied for a plot in order to become a farmer. Since the German admi
nistration refused, in August of 1912, Antonis Mamakos offered him a small plot and a house inside his estate. Finally, a few months later with the intervention of a few members of the local Greek community, such as Kostas Meimaridis, Michael Filios, Evriviadis Panagiotakopoulos and Michael Lamos, he was granted a plot of 30 acres. A few years later, inside this plot the first orthodox church of Tanganyika was built.

 

The Greek pioneers in the jungle of Inhambane in Mozambique in the 1890s

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

Apart from the Greeks who settled in Lourenço Marques or Beira in the 19th century, there were others who continued towards the province of Inhambane. They boarded on a ship in Lourenço Marques and after nearly 40 hours they reached the port of Inhambane. In Inhambane, they got on the train either for Jangamo, a small town at a distance of 30 km or Mocumbi. The arduous journey did not end in Inhambane since many Greeks had to ride horses or to walk for several kilometers through the jungle to arrive at their settlement places. Those pioneer farmers lived in round huts, 4-5 metres in diameter, covered with leaves and branches. Each hut consisted of one or two rooms, with a bed and a small table inside it.
Greeks from Asia Minor and the islands of Aegean mainly settled in these areas and leased land by the Portuguese government. They engaged in agricultural production, especially in the cultivation of sugar cane. Some of the pioneers were: Michael Lygeros from Plomari, Michael Nicolaou from Cyprus, Dimitris Kalliontzis from Smyrna, Aristides and Apostolos Angelidis from Kırkağaç (Asia Minor), John Vlassopoulos from Ayvalık (Asia Minor), Dimitris Pagonis from Chios, Panagiotis Avgoustatos from Kefalonia and George Spellas from Spetses.

 

Donation of the Greeks of Congo in 1921

 In 1921, a fundraising conducted by the Greek State. Greeks throughout the world offered money.
Here is the offer of the Greeks of Elisabethville (pr. Lubumbashi) in Congo.

 

 

The first Greek community in Mozambique

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

Although the Greek presence in Mozambique dates back to the 1880s, the first organised effort to establish a community took place in the late 19th century in the city of Beira. Greeks from Lemnos and Kasos were the pioneers in this initiative. In 1902, in the hall of the hotel ‘Victoria’ which belonged to Costas Piperis from Kasos, the ‘Greek Community of Beira’ was founded.

 

 

 

The founding of the Greek community of Casablanca in 1916

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Hellenism of Morocco’)

The settlement of the first Greeks in Morocco dates back to the early 20th century. Most of them left Lesvos following the ships of the French navy and settled in Casablanca. Two decades later, on July 4, 1916, they founded the "Greek Community of Casablanca and Morocco". Some of these pioneers were I. Vamvakeros, I. Noulelis, S. Lagidis, A. Moschogianis, P. Agiakatsikas, I. Chaldezos, P. Vounatsos, G. Loupas, T. Savvas, D. Moschovis, P. Maltas, P. Michailidis, S. Tsesmelis, G. Foliadis, G. Vounatsos.