Ioannis Pesmazoglou (; 1857–1906) was an ethnic

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

banker, economist and politician who lived in 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 Egypt before emigrating to Greece in about 1882. Ioannis Pesmazoglou was from

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 ...

(now

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

), although his family originate from Enderlik, in

Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...

. Pesmazoglou studied economic sciences in Paris and in the beginning, he was employed at the

Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cen ...

bank in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. In 1882, he became head of the Anglo-Egyptian Bank, before moving to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where he founded his own bank. In 1897, Pesmazoglou's bank was merged with the Bank of Athens, of which he now became chairman. Pesmazoglou remained a member of the board of the Bank of Athens until his death. Pesmazoglou also founded the Privileged Company for the Protection of Currants (Eniaia or Eniea) as well as the Wine and Alcohol Company as measures to combat the acute financial crisis resulting from the plummeting prices of Corinthian raisins, one of the country's chief exports. He also funded the establishment of night schools for the Athens Trade Employees Union. From 1900 he became involved in politics, being elected a member of the

Greek Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme democratic instit ...

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

and

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, representing

Elis Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it ...

and

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...

. His sons were Andreas, Stefanos and

Georgios Georgios (, , ) is a Ancient Greek, Greek name derived from the word ''georgos'' (, , "farmer" lit. "earth-worker"). The word ''georgos'' (, ) is a compound (linguistics), compound of ''ge'' (, , "earth", "soil") and ''ergon'' (, , "task", "underta ...

. His son Andreas entered the

Greek Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence ...

and died in 1927 at age 27 and Stefanos became a journalist, founding the newspaper '' Proia''. The tomb of Ioannis Pesmazoglou and family is in the

First Cemetery of Athens The First Cemetery of Athens (, ''Próto Nekrotafeío Athinón'') is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a prestigious cemetery for Greeks and foreigners. The cemetery is lo ...

, Greece.

References

;Sources *''The first version of the article is translated and is based from the article at the Greek Wikipedia ( el:Main Page) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesmazoglou, Ioannis 1857 births 1906 deaths Greek bankers 19th-century Greek economists Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens Members of the Hellenic Parliament Cappadocian Greeks Constantinopolitan Greeks Politicians from Istanbul Businesspeople from Istanbul Greek MPs 1905–1906 Greek MPs 1906–1910 Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece People from the Khedivate of Egypt Immigrants to Greece