The Greek participation in the transports field in the 1930s in Southeastern Africa

(‘The Greek community in Mozambique’)

In 1922, Beira was connected with the Zambezi valley through the Trans-Zambezi Railway. Because the river at that point was about two miles in width, it was impossible to carry goods to Blantyre in the then Nyasaland except floods period when it could be crossed by a steamship. To overcome this difficulty, a great bridge near Sena planned to be built. The construction works attracted qualified staff, including the Greek mechanics and craftsmen who had previously worked on the railway network.

The Greek role in the sponge fishery of Sfax in Tunisia

(Excerpt from the book ‘The Greek presence in Tunisia 16^th-21^st “)

The city of Sfax was the second biggest city in Tunisia and its major port. The Greeks settled in the 1850s and dealt with sponge fishery. In 1875, the Greek sponge fishers from the island of Kalymnos introduced the use of fishing with ‘skandalopetra diving’ in the Gulf of Gabès. A few years later, they used scuba techniques for the first time in sponge fishery. In 1899, the Greeks owned 82 vessels while the Italians owned 54.

The sponge fishery showed an upward trend over the next few decades, reaching its peak in 1912. It was connected to the network of the international market since sponges were exported to several European countries, Middle East and the Black Sea. In 1911, more than 450 Greek ‘sponge units’ were recorded in Sfax, which employed almost 3000 divers Most of them were from the islands of Kalymnos, Symi and Ydra.  During the 1930s, the Greeks owned more than 3000 ‘sponge units’. Panagiotis Balourdos was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Sfax between 1920 and 1940 since his annual turnover was estimated to be 40 million FF. He owned more than 1000 ‘sponge units’ and thousands of acres of olive orchards.

The racist tactics of the German colonialists against the Greeks in Tanzania in the 1900s

(Excerpt from the book 'The Greek community in Tanzania')

Although the Greeks were among the first Europeans who settled in the then German East Africa in the 1890s, they were considered as second-class Europeans. The Germans saw them as “people from the orient”, “an inferior race which at the best was a kind of half-caste Europeans”. In the statutes of the “Economic Society of Meru” which established in 1909 and included the coffee-planters of Kilimanjaro, settlers of non-German origin were excluded.
This exclusion forced the Greeks and other non-German settlers to establish the “Kilimanjaro Society for Trade and Agriculture in 1910.

A Greek experiences the violence of the French who own the railway in Dire Dawa of Ethiopia in the 1930s

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

During the 1930s, the majority of the railway employees in Dire Dawa of Ethiopia were of Greek origin. Apart from the bad working conditions due to the heat and low wages, the Greeks had to face also the colonial behaviour of some of the French who owned the railway. On 4/6/1932, a Greek railway employee crossed a city road riding on his horse. When the police officers saw him, they attacked him and threw him down. At the time they were about to beat him, a coworker came out of his house and tried to save him. The Greek tried to find a shelter to the house of his colleague. The police officers invaded the house and beat the owner and his wife. When the rest of the railway workers were informed of the incident, they went on a general strike.

The Greek beer of Southeastern Africa

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

Μichael Perantonakis, usually known as Cretikos, immigrated to Mozambique in the late 19th century. Although he intended to work in the mines of South Africa, he settled in Lourenço Marques where he started to sell bananas. Then he owned a grocery store and in the 1910s, he began to sell drinking water in the neighbourhoods of Lourenço Marques. Soon, Perantonakis established a factory where he produced mineral water and soft drinks. Later, he decided to enter the brewery field and for that reason he travelled to Germany. In 1932, he produced a beer under the trade name ‘Laurentina’. The name of the beer came from the nickname of the inhabitants of the city of Lourenço Marques, ‘laurentinos’ (our fine gentlemen) and ‘laurentinas’ (the lovely ladies).