page_title: Gerasimos Contomichalos
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Gerasimos Contomichalos / Life
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Elefthérios Venizélos (1864 - 1936), alors Président du parlement grec, 1917. English: Eleftherios Venizelos (1864 - 1936), as president of the greek parliament, 1917.
context_page_description: Gerasimos Antonios Contomichalos was the most eminent business magnate in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the greatest benefactor of the Greek community in Sudan. He wielded considerable political influence both in Sudan and Greece.
context_section_description: Contomichalos was born in Argostoli on the Ionian Island of Kefalonia. He left his home in 1899 to pursue his higher education in England, where he stayed for two years doing business management and commercial studies. In 1901 he arrived in Khartoum to assist his uncle Angelo Capato, who was one of the biggest merchants in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan at the time. Contomichalos "worked almost in all branches" of the firm across the country.
  In 1904, Capato sent his nephew to the port town of Suakin to manage his trade interests there. According to the Nile Pilot newspaper, Contomichalos convinced the colonial authorities to abandon plans to name the newly constructed harbour city Bandar Sudan and instead call it Port Sudan, "so he is really her godfather."
  
  In 1906/7, Contomichalos was one of the founding members as secretary-general of the Greek Community of Port Sudan, where more than 1,500 Greeks lived at the time, out of a total population of around 7,500, due to large-scale construction works. He later became the President of the association.
  In 1908 Contomichalos left his uncle's company and started his own commercial enterprise. He quickly succeeded and expanded into the fields of agriculture, banking, real estate, and ships handling, establishing branches throughout Sudan – with major trade activities in what was then Southern Sudan – as well as in Cairo, London, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haifa, and Panama. According to a study by the University of Khartoum (UoK), he "monopolized the cotton trade in Khartoum." Meanwhile, Capato's business empire collapsed after a series of misfortunes. Contomichalos supported his uncle's attempts for a commercial comeback and paid him a monthly allowance after another bankruptcy.
  According to the Greek anthropologist Gerasimos Makris, who is related to the Greeks of Sudan through marriage, the well-educated Contomichalos "distinguished himself by working hard and methodically." At the same time, he stresses that, "always mindful of developments in the political arena, Contomichalos cultivated his relations with the Government and the Palace". Thus, in 1911, the colonial government granted him a plot of land close to Port Sudan to build a cotton processing factory. One year later he established "The Sudan Trading Co." and entered into a strategic partnership with the London Shipping company to form "Contomichalos and Darke Company", registered in London.
  In 1914, Contomichalos moved from Port Sudan to Khartoum where he quickly became a "social magnate" as well. Already one year later, he was elected – like his uncle before – as President of the Greek Community of Khartoum and remained in this office for more than twenty years. Compared to Capato though, as Makris concludes, he "had much more impact than the former – founding churches, schools and other community buildings and offering large sums of money to assist in the establishment of smaller communities in the provinces.”
  In 1918, repairs and expansion works at the Greek-Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Khartoum were started thanks to a large donation by Contomichalos. One year later he was one of the founders of the Greek Community in Wad Madani, since his company was in possession of a large area used for corn cultivation there. Also in 1919, Contomichalos and another Greek businessman, John Cutsuridis, initiated the establishing of the Greek Community in El-Obeid. In 1924, the Greek primary school in Khartoum was re-opened in a new building, which was constructed upon the major initiative of Contomichalos, and named after another Greek pioneer businessman, Panayotis Trampas. In 1935, Contomichalos supported the founding of the Greek Community of Juba with a financial donation – thereby contributing to the creation of the Greek community of South Sudan, which still exists today. In 1942 he gave financial aid to reactivate the Greek Community of Atbara.
  Contomichalos also promoted sports, both by establishing a club that addressed his employees and by supporting the Hellenic Athletics Club. In 1937, he furthermore took the initiat
caption: Eleftherios Venizelos as president of the Greek parliament in 1917
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