(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
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.
