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contrasting the two men, it is possible to see how the community had changed from 1900 to 1920. While Capato was an energetic daredevil who thrived on chaos, Contomichalos came to the Sudan as a well-educated young man who distinguished himself by working hard and methodically. If Capato represented the colourful and adventurous past of the Greek presence in the Sudan, Contomichalos personified the accomplishments of the mature community
165:. He became the main caterer of the Anglo-Egyptian forces, especially in fresh meat, set up a network of canteens, run by Greeks, and an ice factory. The business offered huge profits, but Capato also suffered heavy losses at times, especially due to animal diseases. At one point, he also recruited some 3.000 contract workers from Yemen for the British authorities in order to fortify Suakin:
66:
534:
Capato belonged to the 'high class' of Greek settlers, but after the collapse of his business ventures he did not have the means to play a leading role in the society. In a certain sense, he continued to influence the development of the Greek community through his nephew, Gerasimos
Contomichalos. By
494:
For Sudan academia, Capato's life-story is especially interesting, since he wrote – or dictated – his memoirs a few years before his death. The unpublished manuscript in
English language was given by Edwin Geoffrey Sarsfield-Hall, who entered the colonial Sudan Political Service in 1909 and retired
513:
Capato's career demonstrates how a Greek trader (carrying a
British passport) of no private means exploited economic opportunities to build his own business and become a pillar of the society. Moreover, his life history provides an interesting perspective both on social and economic changes in the
292:
This recruitment profile ensured the employment of trustworthy men to fill important positions such as managers of store-houses or branches of the firm. These young men usually stayed with the firm for a few years in order to gain a working knowledge of Arabic, familiarise themselves with the new
485:
The Greek Rifle Club, which Capato founded, continues to exist one century later as one of the most prominent places of Greek presence in Sudan in the form of the
Hellenic Athletics Club (H.A.C.), since the Greek Rifle Club merged with the Hellenic Gymnastics Club in 1913. H.A.C. is especially
249:. For this, he set up a network of trading posts across the country with Greek agents, who bought ivory and gum while also catering to colonial officials. One of the boats owned by Capato and used for transporting goods on the White Nile was named after his home-island Cephalonia.
379:
and Wadi Halfa. Nothing was insured and the combined loss totalled £46,200. Just after this misfortune, a fire at Port Sudan caused losses of £33,000 or more; then fire (probably arson) in his
Khartoum stores caused £55,800 in damage, and, finally, a fire in his storehouse in
299:
As the number of Greeks in Sudan grew rapidly, Capato played a key role in establishing the
Hellenic Community of Khartoum in 1902. He became its first deputy chairman and a few years later its president as well. Also in 1902, he was one of the founding members of the
778:
490:
for its swimming pool. The
Hellenic Community of Khartoum, which Capato co-founded, continues to exist as well, though its membership numbers dropped to about 150 in the mid-2010s – about the same level as at its creation in 1902.
328:
which could serve as the venue for covert military exercises. Whatever the nature of this episode, it says something about how Capato – and probably many other Greeks – saw themselves as stalwarts of the 'colonial'
193:." While the Sudanese merchant class struggled to recover from the shock of the defeat, the establishment of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in 1899 opened vast business opportunities to foreign traders, mainly
293:
environment and learn their jobs from the inside. Having completed their 'apprenticeship,' many decided to try their luck on their own by setting up a small canteen in a different part of the country.
448:
of
Alexandria with a monthly allowance of £55 from Contomichalos, who pledged to pay this sum until Capato's financial situation improved. Shortly before his death in 1937, Capato commented though
790:
406:
burden had grown so huge that Capato had to declare bankruptcy. Two years later, with support from his nephew
Contomichalos, Capato made a comeback by starting a small canteen.
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1001:
375:
A string of bad luck began when a storm sank a large number of his boats (some sailing northwards carrying gum, others going south with salt and general merchandise) between
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257:
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189:" were huge – as were the risks: after the defeat of the Mahdist regime in 1898 and the withdrawal of most of the foreign soldiers, Capato was left "
469:
648:
178:
1006:
315:. Also in 1907, when the British strategists worried that an insurgency in Egypt could spread to Sudan, Capato founded upon the request by
267:
At the same time, Capato owned hotels, started a publishing company for postcards (see header photo), and ran a service for fitting out
38:
1021:
914:
889:
477:
723:
Ewald, Janet (2000). "Crossers of the Sea: Slaves, Freedmen, and other
Migrants in the Northwestern Indian Ocean, c. 1750–1914".
146:
in 1885 to the Mahdist forces, Suakin remained under British control and became an all the more strategically important outpost.
279:" for cotton cultivation. According to Chaldeos, he leased some 6,000 hectares, which yielded 100,000 pounds of cotton in 1907.
996:
114:
812:
Hill, Richard (1970). "A Register of Named Power-Driven River and Marine Harbour Craft Commissioned in the Sudan 1856–1964".
282:
For his manyfold business activities, Capato recruited large numbers of Greeks, preferably family members like his nephew
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Sudan during the first part of the Condominium period, as well as the formation of a strong foreign community.
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started the reconquest of Sudan in 1896, Capato and other Greek merchants followed the invading forces from
162:
18:
229:
Thus, Capato quickly expanded his business activities beyond providing supplies to the colonial regime. In
83:
since 1815. Both his grandfather and his father participated in several military campaigns of the British
191:
with large stores of 'luxury products' that proved impossible to sell to Egyptian and Sudanese subalterns
308:
261:
100:
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and again specialised in catering to the troops and officers. Once more, profit margins for supplying "
307:
and – in 1908 – of the Greek Chamber of Commerce of Khartoum. In 1907, another relative of Capato's –
150:
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which still exists today. Likewise it may be argued that he was one of the founding father's of the
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as well, where he also set up a network of Greek agents - thereby contributing to the creation of a
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286:, who went on to succeed his uncle as the most eminent merchant magnate for almost half a century:
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In 1886, the partnership with Ross ended and Capato started his own enterprise. According to
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The Kontomichaleios High School and Lyceum in Khartoum (2015), named after Capato's nephew
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91:" and joined the British Navy at some point. He arrived in the Egyptian port town of
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80:
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Gerasimos Makris, who is related to the Greeks of Sudan through marriage, and the
365:
In the same year, however, Capato's fortunes started turning in the fashion of an
205:. Capato was especially well-positioned: he apparently not only spoke English and
909:. Berkeley / Los Angeles / London: University of California Press. p. 154.
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with both legs broken, writing his memoirs and contemplating his dramatic past
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42:
907:
Living with Colonialism: Nationalism and Culture in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
381:
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Little has been published about Capato's private life, except that he was "
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When his small business collapsed as well two years later, Capato moved to
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he was the closest partner of the government and General Commander itself
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134:-based merchant house John Ross & Co. In 1884, while the indigenous
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127:
65:
206:
194:
123:
736:
758:
Dafalla, Hassan (1965). "Notes on the History of Wadi Halfa Town".
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At the height of Capato's wealth and power – in 1906 – the British
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escalated in most of Sudan, he started supplying provisions to the
519:
476:
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Rue Champollion in Alexandria, where Capato spent his final years.
389:
220:
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Capato hailed from a naval family on Cephalonia, which had been a
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17:
643:. Athens. pp. 81–83, 100, 114–115, 126, 183, 219–223, 249.
403:
108:
92:
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In the following years those misfortunes continued, while his
696:
Bloss, John F. E. (1937). "The Story of Suakin (Concluded)".
601:. Sudan Studies Society of the United Kingdom (SSSUK): 10–18.
311:– became the founding chairman of the Hellenic Community of
950:
Durham University Library: Archives and Special Collections
209:, but also nine local dialects. And according to Chaldeos,
428:
interviewed him there in his eightieth year and found him
495:
in 1936 as Governor of Khartoum, to the Sudan Archive of
843:(in French). Bruxelles: éditions Masoin. pp. 54–57.
355:
so great was his name that one was inclined to think of
107:
that went on until 1876. In 1882 he followed a British
884:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 222.
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grew ever more nervous about their dues. By 1912 the
122:
In 1883, Capato arrived in the Sudanese port town of
45:
in western Greece (1854–1937), was the most eminent
171:
Capato parlayed supplying cattle into supplying men
946:"Catalogue of the papers of E. G. Sarsfield-Hall"
586:Makris, Gerasimos; Stiansen, Endre (April 1998).
934:. New York: D. Appleton-Century. pp. 85–88.
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252:Soon his business activities expanded into the
95:in 1870. Two years later he joined the crew of
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473:The Hellenic Athletics Club in Khartoum (2018)
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588:"Ahgelo Capato: A Greek Trader in the Sudan"
1012:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
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1002:United States of the Ionian Islands people
663:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
444:." In his final years, he lived in 19 Rue
111:exploration mission as a small merchant.
854:Katsigeras, Michalis (21 January 2009).
685:. London: Psychology Press. p. 95.
547:
683:A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan
656:
241:from what was then Southern Sudan and
57:at the beginning of the 20th century.
103:, a pioneering scientific mission in
7:
880:Campbell Thompson, Reginald (2016).
779:"The Story of Khartoum (concluded)"
161:, Capato in the same year obtained
507:historian Endre Stiansen conclude:
177:When an Anglo-Egyptian army under
14:
987:20th-century Greek businesspeople
841:Pionniers méconnus du Congo Belge
273:he acquired large estates in the
1017:Egyptian people of Greek descent
51:one of the most powerful persons
820:. University of Khartoum: 136.
801:– via Sudan Open Archive.
725:The American Historical Review
424:at the time. The US-dramatist
384:destroyed goods worth £47,000.
262:Greek community in South Sudan
1:
930:Davis, Robert Hobart (1934).
409:In 1926, Capato received the
361:Non Anglo Sudan, Sed Angelo."
225:Capato's nephew Contomichalos
442:the father of a large family
118:Navy canteen in Suakin, 1884
1007:Anglo-Egyptian Sudan people
411:Order of the British Empire
1038:
839:Antippas, Georges (2008).
639:Chaldeos, Antonis (2017).
340:Reginald Campbell Thompson
22:Imprint of a 1908 postcard
905:Sharkey, Heather (2003).
237:." He got engaged in the
157:about the history of the
1022:Greek diaspora in Africa
777:Walkley, C.E.J. (1936).
481:The club premises (2018)
258:Greek community in Congo
235:pioneers of construction
233:, he became one of the "
814:Sudan Notes and Records
783:Sudan Notes and Records
766:: 15 – via JSTOR.
760:Sudan Notes and Records
698:Sudan Notes and Records
458:better days never came.
284:Gerasimos Contomichalos
271:parties. In addition, "
997:People from Cephalonia
681:Hill, Richard (1967).
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349:" in Suakin and noted:
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856:"Greeks in the Congo"
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367:Ancient-Greek tragedy
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187:highly-priced imports
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101:Challenger expedition
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35:Άγγελος Ήλιος Καπάτος
31:Angelos Helia Kapatos
21:
789:: 88. Archived from
142:and Navy. After the
87:. He left his home "
55:Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
426:Robert Hobart Davis
305:Chamber of commerce
277:and around Khartoum
163:British citizenship
130:as an agent of the
932:Bob Davis at Large
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483:
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309:Paraskevas Capatos
227:
120:
74:
24:
882:A Pilgrim's Scrip
650:978-618-82334-5-4
497:Durham University
179:Herbert Kitchener
136:Mahdist rebellion
89:while still a boy
70:H.M.S. Challenger
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317:Governor-general
269:Big-game hunting
254:Congo Free State
239:trade with ivory
151:Antonis Chaldeos
144:fall of Khartoum
47:business magnate
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159:Greeks in Sudan
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39:Ionian island
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27:Angelo Capato
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953:. Retrieved
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863:. Retrieved
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982:1937 deaths
977:1854 births
488:expatriates
450:laconically
446:Champollion
97:John Murray
971:Categories
704:(2): 267.
542:References
418:Alexandria
347:of finance
313:Port Sudan
243:Gum arabic
183:Wadi Halfa
155:PhD thesis
132:Alexandria
85:Royal Navy
43:Cephalonia
865:10 August
731:(1): 84.
659:cite book
505:Norwegian
400:Creditors
382:Gondokoro
53:" in the
37:) on the
955:9 August
826:42677994
797:9 August
710:41716263
345:Napoleon
302:Omdurman
247:Kordofan
231:Khartoum
199:Lebanese
745:2652435
377:Shellal
203:Syrians
128:Red Sea
126:at the
78:British
72:in 1874
29:, born
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888:
824:
743:
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465:Legacy
329:order.
275:Gezira
207:Arabic
201:, and
195:Greeks
124:Suakin
822:JSTOR
741:JSTOR
706:JSTOR
591:(PDF)
245:from
49:and "
957:2018
911:ISBN
886:ISBN
867:2018
799:2018
665:link
645:ISBN
528:And:
404:debt
109:Nile
93:Suez
61:Life
733:doi
729:105
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