In 1826, British Regent Charles James Napier settled around three hundred farmers from Malta on the Greek island of Kefalonia (also spelled Cephalonia) in an ambitious bid to transform agriculture, but the project ended in disaster.
According to a 200-year anniversary article in the Times of Malta by scholar Arnold Cassola, the Regent of Kefalonia believed the Ionian island’s agriculture sector was in need of significant improvement. Napier considered the local workforce insufficient for the project and believed that importing farmers from another British colony, specifically Malta, would enhance agricultural productivity.
In his memoirs The Colonies: Treating of Their Value Generally—of the Ionian Islands in Particular (1833), Napier wrote, “No doubt that the best thing for the [Kefalonia] poor was the establishment of the Maltese colony.” He believed the Kefalonians were “lazy and indifferent,” while the Maltese were industrious and that their skills would inspire the local population.
On the other hand, in his book The Rebellions of 1848 and 1849 in Cephalonia: Their Causes and International Repercussions, English historian David Hannell wrote: “In Cephalonia, for example, land and labor were available but the farmers were hampered by a lack of knowledge and tools.”
Pronos, a vast, fertile area of Kefalonia, was abandoned and overgrown with trees. Napier described it as ideal for agricultural development. The land belonged to monasteries of Orthodox Christian monks, and the British began providing funds to these institutions while planning to settle the incoming migrant farmers from Malta in Kefalonia’s village of Arakli. In September 1826, the Maltese boarded the 219-ton English brig Adolfo bound for the port of Argostoli, the capital of the Greek island. This was likely one of the first organized migrations from Malta under British rule.
Migrant farmers from Malta struggle to adapt on Kefalonia
Registration documents in Argostoli revealed that many of the migrants from Malta were not actually farmers and were unable, and possibly unwilling, to integrate into life on Kefalonia. When their government-provided subsistence soon ended, they began living as vagrants, wandering around the island and begging for food.
Napier eventually realized that his plan had failed and offered employment to the Maltese who had remained on the island for six pence a day, which was roughly half the normal wage. In December 1828, British authorities compiled a profiling list of the Maltese migrants on Kefalonia titled “Names and descriptions of those Maltese who are willing to go to Malta.” The list essentially divided the Maltese in Pronos into two categories: productive and unproductive workers.
The profiling of the Maltese migrants became even more critical in a second undated list, which included comments about the individual behavior of those living in Pronos. After arriving in Argostoli, the Maltese migrants, who were Catholics, began attending the Catholic church of San Nicola dei Latini. The superiors of the Capuchin Monastery built next to the church had traditionally come from Italy, but appointments to those positions now began being made from Malta.
Poor conditions for Malta’s migrant farmers on Kefalonia
The profiling lists of the Maltese migrants, photocopies of which can still be found in the Argostoli archives, provide evidence of the hardships faced by the new arrivals on Kefalonia. The documents describe cases of rampant child labor in Pronos and Arakli under British administration. They also record instances of Maltese migrants being ill or suffering from poor health, suggesting that living conditions in the Pronos area were deplorable.
The physician Francesco Camilleri had accompanied the Maltese aboard the Adolfo in September 1826. However, just four months later, Camilleri submitted a resignation letter requesting repatriation to Malta. His departure was another indication that the Maltese migration to the Greek island faced challenges from the outset.
Another issue was the alleged misuse of the rations provided to the migrants by the British authorities, which resulted in stricter conditions being imposed on them. It was determined that all rations would be distributed exclusively through the colony chaplain, Don Ricca, and handed out in the presence of Demetrio Cambici, the local innkeeper who had offered the migrants refuge and hospitality at his inn. They were provided according to specific weights and measures. Only those Maltese migrants who proved themselves to be productive workers were given the opportunity to have their rations replaced with monetary payments.
Why the Maltese were blamed for the Kefalonia project’s failure
A report written by Don Ricca, medical doctor Pasquale Conti, and Demetrio Cambici stated that fourteen members of the Maltese community were considered to be “disturbers of our law, evil troublemakers, they do nothing in the new Maltese colony but eat, get drunk, and whisper to the other colonists against their superiors.”
A second sworn declaration from 1829, signed only by Ricca, criticized the Maltese community more broadly, accusing them of being lazy and incompetent: “They had left Malta not to come and work the fields in Cephalonia but to enjoy themselves and free themselves from the [Maltese] courts.”
According to Ricca, the main reason the regent’s project failed was that many of the Maltese migrants were not actually farmers. He wrote that “some were fishermen, others bricklayers, others slaughtermen, others shopkeepers, others butchers, others gladiators, others gamblers, and others despisers of our Christian law, and not farmers as they should have been.”
After his regency on the Greek island ended, Napier wrote in his memoirs:
“The persons sent to me from Malta completely baffled my project of forming a tenantry with small farms, low rents, and long leases; after a trial of two years, they threw up their farms and became day laborers, instead of being tenants.”
The approximately three hundred farmers from Malta ultimately proved unsuccessful on Kefalonia, bringing an end to Napier’s ambitious agricultural plans for the Greek island he governed.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
