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Greeks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Greeks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Έλληνες στην Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία του Κονγκό
Greece Democratic Republic of the Congo
Total population
68,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Lubumbashi, Kinshasa, Boma, Kananga, Kisangani, Mbuji-Mayi and Goma.
Languages
French, Greek, Lingala, at some degree Dutch.
Religion
Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism and Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Greeks, White Africans of European ancestry

The first communities of the Greeks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were established prior to Belgian colonization.[2] The Greek presence reached a peak in the 1950s when many Greeks fled Egypt following the revolution of 1952. The Greek communities organized their own schools and churches and Greeks were active in trade, fishing, transport, coffee growing and the music industry.[2] Also, a small group of Greek Jews emigrated to the Congo in the early 20th Century.

History

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Colonial era

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Former Greek emporium (Jean P. Coutsoukos) in Dungu, Orientale Province.

In the early to mid 20th century nearly all Congolese cities on the Belgian side had a Greek community and usually all hailing from a particular part of Greece as people would arrive, get settled in and send for their families.[3] By the 1920s there were established Greek fishing and trading communities in the trading cities of Luapula and Katanga, where the Greeks plied the river trade of the Congo River, ranging as far as Zambia where many settled. The traders and fishermen developed a good and likable reputation and cultivated good relations with their Congolese and Zambian colleagues as they were always ready to offer help or lend their equipment and traditional Greek skills in net and boat making.[4] During the Second World War, some 2,700 Greek refugees lived in camps in Eastern Congo. They had earlier escaped Nazi occupation and famine conditions in the Aegean Islands and stayed in Belgian Congo in comparably safety and comfort from 1942 to 1945.[5] Ethnic Greeks also played a historically significant role in the production and dissemination of Congolese music, and most of the country's record companies were founded and run by Greeks, including Ngoma, Loningisa, Opika, and CEFA.[6][3] The last significant wave of Greek immigration to the Congo occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s, consisting primarily of immigrants from Egypt who left as part of the mass exodus of foreigners from the country.[7]

Post-independence

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When the country declared its independence in 1960 there were violent clashes and uncertainty followed by three decades of totalitarian rule by Mobutu Sese Seko which led to the exodus of many Greek settlers and a decline in the Greek community. Under Mobutu's regime, the remaining Zairian Greeks maintained a strong monopoly on casinos throughout the country and fishing enterprises operating on Lake Tanganyika, and controlled a large share of the nation's hotel sector. As of 1987, Greeks owned eleven casinos in Kinshasa alone.[8] The bulk of Greek-owned commercial enterprises were in the Eastern half of Zaire during this period.[9] In 1973-74, many larger Greek-owned businesses were seized as part of Mobutu's Zairianisation reforms, but starting in 1976 many of these enterprises were returned to their Greek owners.[10] When the Zairian government reversed its Zairianisation policy in 1976 due to economic downturn, it was unable to attract many of the Europeans (especially Belgians) who left the country to return, and instead relied on Greek and other Southern European residents of Zaire to revitalize the agricultural and small industry sectors.[11]

Around the year 2000 there were about 100 Greeks left in the capital Kinshasa and 200 in Lubumbashi. The holy temple of Saint George and the Club Hellenique are the focal points of the community.[12] In 2006, 5,000 Greeks lived in the DR Congo.[13] Greek presence in modern Lubumbashi (former Elisabethville) has its roots in the 1920s. It is reported that in 1917, about 150 Greeks lived in the city the surrounding forests. More Greeks settled in the area during the periods 1936–39 and 1946–48. The Hellenic Community was established in 1923.The Hellenic Community of Lubumbashi appears very active. The schools of the Hellenic Community of Lubumbashi (SHCL) were founded in 1968 and operate since. [14]

Language

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Most Greeks in the Democratic Republic of Congo speak French as their native language, [citation needed] while some can only speak Greek.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Greeks in the DR Congo".
  2. ^ a b Hellenic Republic: Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Democratic Republic of Congo: The Greek Community Archived 2009-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b Gary Stewart, Rumba on the River, Verso, 2003, ISBN 1-85984-368-9, ch. 2
  4. ^ Hansen, Karen Tranberg (2000). Salaula: The World of Secondhand Clothing and Zambia. University of Chicago Press. p. 72–74. ISBN 0-226-31580-0.
  5. ^ Lingelbach, Jochen (2022-09-03). "Imperial Refugee Management. Moving Greek Refugees Through the British Empire and into the Belgian Congo (1942–1945)". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 50 (5): 1005–1034. doi:10.1080/03086534.2022.2084939. ISSN 0308-6534.
  6. ^ Shepherd, John; Horn, David; Laing, Dave; Oliver, Paul; Wicke, Peter (2003). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 1: Media, Industry, Society. A&C Black. p. 626, 699. ISBN 9781847144737.
  7. ^ Abdulhaq, Najat (2016). Jewish and Greek Communities in Egypt: Entrepreneurship and Business before Nasser. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 196. ISBN 0857727958.
  8. ^ MacGaffey, Janet (2014). Entrepreneurs and Parasites. Cambridge University Press. p. 64-65. ISBN 1107634903.
  9. ^ Young, Crawford; Turner, Thomas Edwin (1985). The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 327. ISBN 0299101134.
  10. ^ Pinther, Kerstin; Förster, Larissa; Hanussek, Christian (2012). Afropolis: City Media Art. Jacana Media. p. 230-31. ISBN 1431403253.
  11. ^ Quarterly Economic Review of Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi. London: Economist Intelligence Unit Limited. 1980. p. 8.
  12. ^ Declan Walsh, City Life: Kisangani - Congo's last few Greeks look back in wonder, The Independent, (London), Oct 2, 2000
  13. ^ "Greeks Around the Globe". Archived from the original on 2006-06-19.
  14. ^ "The Hellenic Community".
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