The pioneering Greeks who took the risk to settle in Kenya at the end of the 19th century built, over the years, a prosperous, albeit small, community. They navigated dangerous trade routes, battled tropical diseases and wild beasts, and eventually managed to develop significant economic activity that continues to this day.

The history of the Greeks in Kenya and Uganda is recorded for the first time by the historian and researcher Antonis Chaldaios, in his eleventh book on the African diaspora.

The Greeks dominated beef and bread

As Mr. Chaldaios stated in APE-MBE, the first Greeks arrived in Kenya around 1890, through the port of Mombasa, in the south, which was then the capital of the British colony, and engaged in the trade, initially of ivory and later of horses and cattle.

They started from Mombasa and moved westward, reaching as far as Lake Victoria in Uganda and selling their goods either at trading posts or traveling in caravans.

Alternatively, they moved on an axis from Mombasa to the north, to the border with Ethiopia and Somalia. through very dangerous regions, with tribes that had not met Europeans before. From there, they brought horses and cattle, and sold them in Kenya, in the Mombasa region.

Then, Greeks who worked as craftsmen or subcontractors on the railway immigrated to Kenya. In 1896, the project to connect Mombasa with Lake Victoria by rail began, with many difficulties, “due to tropical diseases and lion attacks”, Mr. Chaldeos underlined.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1907, the British moved the capital from Mombasa and this was the trigger for Greeks to settle in the new capital, Nairobi, and in the wider area, once again engaging in cattle or food trade. “And in fact what was left in the memory of the British at that time is that Nairobi depended on the Greeks for beef and for bread, because they had the bakeries, so the Greeks were the ones who dominated these sectors,” he said. Mr. Chaldeos

In Mombasa there was, since 1903, the well-known hotel “Africa”, of Greek ownership, very important for all Europeans and a point of reference in the city for almost a century. The owner was Filippos Filios, originally from Northern Epirus, who, 20 years after its construction, sold it and left for Tanzania.

From neighboring African countries to Kenya

After the 1950s, with the independence and nationalization of property in many neighboring African countries, several Greeks from Tanzania and Ethiopia found themselves in Kenya. Those who settled in the north of the country, engaged in coffee production and those in the south with agave, a palm-like plant from which rope is produced. Among the other notable occupations of the Greeks was the mining of ores, and some were more intensively involved in the trade of precious stones during the 60s and 70s, but also later until the 2000s.

The Greeks, like the rest of the Europeans, did not experience nationalization or economic changes so their presence in Kenya is stable. Today, there are 150 to 200 people in the country, mainly in the Nairobi area, with a wide range of activities, such as trade, business, tourism and industry. The Kyriazi family is active in the south, in the area of ​​Taveta, in the production of rope. A hotel in the south is maintained by Vassilis Kritikos, who had also served as a Member of Parliament 10 years ago.

In general, there were not many Greeks in Kenya, also due to the bureaucratic obstacles put up by the British, Mr. Chaldeos emphasized. At its peak, in the 1970s, the Greek community was around 600 people, “a small number but with significant economic activity”.

Due to the small presence of Greeks, no school was created. The children went to schools for foreigners in Kenya or Arusha in Tanzania, which were in close proximity to the areas where the Greeks lived. On the initiative of the archbishop of Cyprus Makarios, an ecclesiastical academy for Africans was founded in Nairobi, which operates to this day.

The benefactor and the benefactor

Along the way, there were Greeks who gave to the country through donations. An important figure in the community was Christodoulos Galanos, with whose donations schools and libraries were built. In fact, he financed the construction of the Nairobi hospital in the 50s and for this reason he was decorated by Queen Elizabeth.

In a different way, other Greeks left their mark, as they were involved in the attempts of the locals to shake off British rule.

“Vassilis Koutlis, who came from Plomari on Lesbos, was a merchant who came to the region at the end of the nineteenth century. He supplied weapons to the Kenyans and in fact the British had denounced him, in 1905, for this action. Fortunately for him, they did not manage to arrest him,” the author pointed out.

As far as Uganda is concerned, the presence of the Greeks was thin, in the context of their commercial activity at the end of the 19th century. “There were Greeks who came all the way to Lake Victoria and sold their wares. And then they went back to their base which was Kenya,” explained Mr. Chaldeos. Today, there are 4 Greeks in Uganda engaged in the coffee trade.