Cyprus is located at the crossroads of three continents and met many peoples who passed and stayed on the island.
Countries such as Egypt have ruled the island since ancient times, bringing with them settlers or slaves, who over time assimilated into the local population. Egyptians, Ethiopians, Sudanese lived in Cyprus and one could meet them to talk and have a "hand in hand" with the other inhabitants of the island. Gradually they became Cypriots themselves.
The "Arab Goi" or Klepini
During the Frankish occupation, the slave trade flourished from African countries and reached its peak during the period of Ottoman rule. In Cyprus it is typical to have a village in the province of Kyrenia, known as Klepini or Arap Goi, which means Arapochori in Turkish, where only Africans from Cyprus lived.
Most of their descendants are now in Fasoula, Limassol, but the last generation of Africans was identified by The Magazine in 1987, when only three descendants were still alive.
Fotos Iraklos, Panagiota Karanikola and Maroullou Monogiou.
With their traditional Cypriot rural clothes, hairpins and donkeys, they were found picking locusts from the trees and doing agricultural work. Their country was Cyprus, any other was foreign. They spoke Greek and had the Christian cross hung around their necks.
Fotos' grandfather was stolen by slave traders from Africa. Fotos's grandmother had come to Cyprus with her other two brothers. She was sold to a "prominent Christian" and baptized Orthodox. Her sister was sold to a Turkish aga and baptized a Muslim, while their younger brother was bought by the nuns of the Franciscan Church to take care of the church porch and was eventually ordained a monk and was a Catholic. Three brothers, three different religions.
"Mathousalas" Joseph
In 1928 an article was published in the British newspaper "The evening telegraph and post" about the oldest man in the world, Joseph the Black.
Born in Dalfur, Sudan, he refused to reveal his true age to the world. Joseph, as he was known in Limassol, worked in the Roman Catholic Church of the city. He was abducted from Sudan when he was young and sold to Egypt and from there he managed to escape and come to Cyprus in 1816. At first he worked as a laborer and later as a "kavasi" of the French Consul, where he learned French fluently.
In 1863 he was baptized a Catholic at the age of 67 and was given the name Joseph, without saying what his real name was.
"Mathousalas" Joseph, remembered historical events as if they were yesterday. He spoke about the hanging of Archbishop Kyprianou in 1821, about Ibrahim Pasha in 1827 but also about Napoleon the Great.
In his 100s, the courageous Joseph, had an affair with a younger African woman in Cyprus. To meet her, he secretly jumped from the priests over the fences of the monastery. Until his last breath at the age of 138, the age-old Ethiopian of Limassol, Joseph, ate, drank and smoked incessantly.
Source and photos: The Magazine, Stelios Papastylianou Papapoliviou Petros, A Cypriot centenarian "Ethiopian" / Time Machine
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