Georgios Kountouriotis ( el, Γεώργιος Κουντουριώτης) (1782 – 13 March 1858) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

ship-owner and politician who served as

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

from March to October 1848.

Life

He was born in 1782 on the

Saronic The Saronic Gulf (Greek: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Co ...

island of Hydra to an

Arvanite Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a bilingual population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They traditionally speak Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded as settler ...

family. The family, apparently the richest in independent Greece, stemmed from the younger son of an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

peasant. He settled the island as a boatman after the Venetians left the Peloponnese (1715) but before the island received its permanent colony. The Koundouriotis family used extensively their native

Arvanitic Arvanitika (; Arvanitika: , ; Greek: , ), also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to the use ...

dialect of Hydra. The dialect has been documented in two letters of Georgios' private correspondence with

Ioannis Orlandos Ioannis Orlandos ( el, Ιωάννης Ορλάνδος) was a Greek politician and revolutionary who participated in the Greek War of Independence. Early life and Greek Revolution His father Constantinos-Anagnostis Orlandos came from Spetses to ...

, written in the Greek alphabet. Georgios spoke Greek only with difficulty. He was the brother of

Lazaros Kountouriotis Lazaros Kountouriotis ( el, Λάζαρος Κουντουριώτης; 1769 - 6 June 1852 or 12 June 1852) was a Greek Senator of the 1844 Senate and a major actor of the Greek War of Independence. Life Lazaros Kountouriotis was born in Hydra in A ...

, another ship-owner of 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. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

. When the War of Independence broke out, Georgios, along with the rest of the Kountouriotis family, supported the effort with generous donations as well as with their ships. He was often at odds with other Hydriot sea captains, but ultimately was the wealthiest. Georgios Kountouriotis became a member of the executive committee of the Greek Revolution and served as its president from 1823 to 1826 during the crucial time of the siege of Missolonghi. After independence, he became a member of the cabinet of

Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: � ...

, the first governor of Greece. He was a semi-independent adherent of the

French Party The French Party ( el, Γαλλικό Κόμμα, Galliko Komma), presenting itself as the Constitutional Party ( el, Συνταγματικό Κόμμα), was one of the three informal early Greek parties that dominated the early political histor ...

mostly due to his antipathy to the

Russian Party The Russian Party ( el, Ρωσικό Κóμμα), presenting itself as the Napist Party ("Dell Party", el, κόμμα των Ναπαίων), one of the Early Greek parties, was an informal grouping of Greek political leaders that formed during t ...

and his fellow Hydriots of the

English Party The English Party ( el, Αγγλικό Κóμμα), was one of the three informal early Greek parties that dominated the political history of the First Hellenic Republic and the first years of the Kingdom of Greece during the early 19th century, ...

. During the period of French Party ascendancy in the reign of King

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

, he served as Prime Minister. He died in 1858. He was the grandfather of

Pavlos Kountouriotis Pavlos Kountouriotis ( el, Παύλος Κουντουριώτης; 9 April 1855 – 22 August 1935) was a Greek rear admiral during the Balkan Wars, regent, and the first President of the Second Hellenic Republic. In total he served four times ...

who fought in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

and later served as first (1924-1926) President of the

Second Hellenic Republic The Second Hellenic Republic is a modern historiographical term used to refer to the Greek state during a period of republican governance between 1924 and 1935. To its contemporaries it was known officially as the Hellenic Republic ( el, Ἑλλ� ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kountouriotis, Georgios 1782 births 1858 deaths 19th-century heads of state of Greece 19th-century prime ministers of Greece 19th-century Greek businesspeople Arvanites Prime Ministers of Greece People from Hydra (island) Greek people of the Greek War of Independence Ministers of Naval Affairs of Greece Greek businesspeople in shipping