South Australian academic Yianni Cartledge will present an online lecture entitled “The Chios Massacre (1822) and Chiot Emigration” at 7pm on Thursday, 22 July.

The talk, which is part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars hosted by the Greek Community of Melbourne, will focus on the infamous massacre of 1822 that led to 100,000 Chiots being killed, enslaved or displaced.

While many scholars of the Greek War of Independence have acknowledged that the massacre was key moment in the war, few expanded on its long-term consequences.

Mr Cartledge will look at the events that led to the massacre and draw on comparative events such as the massacres at Tripolitsa, Istanbul and Psara. He will also talk on the Chiot diaspora that ensued placing it within the context of wider migration history “to ascertain the nature, features, demographics and stories of their migration”.

A PhD candidate at Flinders University in South Australia, Mr Carteledge’ will look at the emergence of the large Chiot diaspora in European ports, particularly London, in the wake of the massacre.

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His thesis which examines the cases of the Chiots of London and the Ikarians of South Australia is entitled “Aegean Island Migration to the United Kingdom and Australia, 1815-1945: Emigration, Settlement, Community Building and Intergration”. It is a work that incorporates his passion for Greek, Ottoman, British and Australian histories

His 2018 honours’ thesis explored the 1822 Chios Massacre and the way it affected British attitudes towards the Greeks ultimately resulting in the Christian humanitarian intervention that followed.

An article deriving from his thesis, entitled “The Chios Massacre (1822) and early British Christian-humanitarianism”, was published in February 2020 in Historical Research. He recently published a biographical entry of South Australian fisherman and seafood merchant George Angelakis in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Yianni Cartledge’s online lecture “The Chios Massacre (1822) and Chiot Emigration” will be presented online through Facebook and Youtube at 7pm on Thursday, 22 July. For more information contact the Greek Community of Melbourne on 3 9662 2722 or  email: info@greekcommunity.com.au