Arkadios Dimitrakopoulos ( (1824–1908) was a Greek wealthy merchant, father-in-law of Dimitar Brakalov, chairman of Greek educational society "Efxinos Pontos".МИХАЛЕВ, В. ГРЪЦКИ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛНИ ИНСТИТУЦИИ В СЕЛИЩАТА ПО ЮЖНОТО ЧЕРНОМОРИЕ ПРЕЗ ВТОРАТА ПОЛОВИНА НА ХIX в. ДО 20 -ТЕ ГОДИНИ НА ХХ в. and prominent figure of

Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

society in the 19th century.Dimiter Christov, The Rise of a Port: Socio-economic Development of Burgas in the 19th c.Tsviatko Tsviatkov, Lazar Popov, History of Port Burgas (1903-1963) (Burgas: Gueorgi Kirkov, 1963)

Biography

Arkadios Dimitrakopoulos was born in

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, spent some time in

Ermoupolis Ermoupoli (), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( < "Town of Hermes"), is a town and former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 loca ...

Syros Syros ( ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and at the 2021 census it had 21,124 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano S ...

and lived most of his life in

. The famous Bulgarian historian Velko Tonev claims that Arkadios origin is from “continental Greece” but doesn't explain other information. Arkadios was enrolled in the high school of

. Andreas Dimitrakopoulos (born 1816), signed the school textbook of 1838-1839 as Arkadios' guardian. The family ties between the two have remained unknown.The city in modern times, General Archives of the State, Archives of the Prefecture of Cyclades On December 17, 1842, in the age of 18 he gave the oath to become citizen of

. Later on, although the family has resided and succeeded in

, he followed the same process for most of his children for unknown reasons. Dimitrakopoulos also served as the chairman of the Greek educational society "Efxinos Pontos". That was the oldest and longer lasting Greek educational association in Burgas and operated from 1879 until at least 1893, at the urging of the Metropolitan of Anchialos. It was founded by Metropolitan Vassilios and the Greek Deputy Consul Mavromichalis with the main goal of raising money for the new building of the Greek school. "Efxinos Pontos" funded the schools and the poor people in the city. The Burgas local historian A. Hristov describes Arkadios Dimitrakopoulos among the wealthy Greeks - merchants from Burgas which have a significant contribution to the development of trade, from whose income funds are allocated for the development of modern Greek education.

Business career

After high school, Dimitrakopoulos joined the family business and was sent as an agent in

. At one point he was cut off and became independent. The Dimitrakopoulos family who was called Vonghizas family in the past, comes from the village of Langadia in Arcadia and was very successful in the transit trade of wheat and grains. His family leaves motherland Greece and settles obviously with the purpose of trading in Burgas – then under Ottoman rule. Just then, shortly after the beginning of the

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

(1839), the restrictions of trade with grain in the Ottoman Empire are abolished and many merchants turn to perspective export ports like Burgas. According to the Bulgarian historian Mitko Ivanov, Dimitrakopoulos was a very wealthy man and probably the richest in Burgas at the time Dimitrakopoulos in 1878-1880 is one of the biggest wheat merchants, exporter of cereals and owner of big grain warehouses in the

Port of Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

. He even has his own pier in the port, one of only five existed. They were located on the site of nowadays railway station. Around the Liberation of Bulgaria (1878), the gardens and fields to the north of the city (nowadays in the centre of Burgas) were Dimitrakopoulos property. Starting from the present square “Troikata” to the present

Burgas Free University Burgas Free University (BFU) is a private university located in Burgas, Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the ...

there was a garden, the whole surrounded by fruits, among which there were hazelnuts and also a vineyard, property of Dimitrakopoulos. To the north of that garden around 1889-1890 the municipality started the new city cemetery. That place had earlier been a part of that garden. Dimitar Brakalov, a mayor of

at the time, being a son-in-law of Dimitrakopoulos, asked from him to give a part of the garden – the northern – for a cemetery. After the death of Brakalov's wife and Dimitrakopoulos’ daughter she buried there. The transformation of part of Dimitrakopoulos ‘ garden into cemetery around 1885 is described in other documents, too.

Personal life - family

In 1862, Arkadios Dimitrakopoulos was married with Maria Paschalaki or Paschalidou (born in 1845) and had 12 children. Alkiviadis Dimitrakopoulos son of Arkadios has served as member of the municipal council of Burgas (1893-1894, 1895–1897, 1908–1911). Dimitar Brakalov former mayor of

was married with Dimitrakopoulos' daughter. His daughter marriage with Brakalov brought numerous reactions among the local politicians and leaders at that time. Arkadios Dimitrakopoulos died in Burgas in the 5th of November, 1908 at the age of 83. The descendants of Arkadios Dimitrakopoulos resided in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in the 20th century. Dimitrios Dimitrakopoulos - Vonghizas, member of the family, was a Greek wealthy merchant who fought under the orders of

Kanellos Deligiannis Kanellos Deligiannis (; c. 1780–1862) was a Greece, Greek magnate from the Morea and the son of :el:Ιωάννης Δεληγιάννης, Ioannis Deligiannis. He was one of the main organizers of the Greek War of Independence and a politician ...

during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

against the rule of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and benefactor of

Langadia, Arcadia Lagadia () is a mountain village and a former municipality in Arcadia (regional unit), Arcadia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Gortynia, of which it is a municipal u ...

. In 1866, he donated 10.000

drachmas Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma, a modern Greek currency (1833...2002) * Cretan drachma, currency of the former Cretan State * Drachma proctocomys, moth species, the only species in the Genus '' ...

for the construction of Gymnasium of Langadia, Arcadia Dimitrios Dimitrakopoulos was based in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrakopoulos, Arkadios 1824 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Bulgarian educators People from Burgas Burgas