Greeks started migrating to France immediately after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. G. Palaiologos Disypatos, son of a big Byzantine family offered military services to the king Louis XI while many other Greeks and Albanians joined the battalions of the light cavalry of the French kings. We also find Greek women as ladies-in-waiting to the king; others are employed in the silk manufacture which was established by Maria of the Medici family in the 17th century. The presence of the Greek scholars is also important. In the 15th century, A. Kallistos and G. Ermonymos teach the Greek language in Paris while Ianos Laskaris is invited by Charles XIII In the following century H. Andreou translates Anacreon (1556) while L. Philaras becomes a friend of cardinal Richelieu. These Greeks were the teachers of significant foreign Hellenists such as Bude, Erasmus and Melachthon and they contributed considerably to the collection of Greek manuscripts which enriched the library of Fontainebleau.

During the period we study there was no organized Greek colony in Paris. The Greek merchants which lived permanently in Paris were very few during this time. However, the French capital was bound to be one of the centres of ideological conflicts on vital subjects of the Hellenic culture (e.g. language, education, relations with the western civilization, etc.). The protagonists of this conflict, A. Korais on one side and P. Kodrikas on the other had crossed swords about these matters many times before the outbreak of the French Revolution. This philological dispute was expressed through nameless lampoonery full of personal assaults, detractions and incredible outbursts of abuse. The Greek periodical "Melissa" which was published in Paris by K. Nikolopoulos from 1819 until 1821 was the journalistic organ that was inspired from the convictions of A. Korais. The unequivocally expressed opinions in favour of the "transmission" of the evolution of the "enlightened Europe" to the unredeemed Hellenism, the use of the modern Greek language in schools as well as the strict control and harsh criticism that were expressed through the articles of "Melissa" against powers that were considered until then sacrosanct (e.g. the church), place this periodical in the ideological conflict between the Greek scholars of that period. The periodical "Athina" which was issued in Paris in February and May 1819, supports the position of A. Korais too but in a more mild way. The newspaper "Mouseion" is the combative organ of the other side; it is the most short-lived newspaper of the pre-revolutionary period in Paris that numbered only one issue in July of 1819 and was against the beliefs of the "bad raven", that is Korais. However, it is a fact that the two rival scholars turned to a common direction. They made appeals and proceeded with the necessary steps toward the French authorities to support the struggle of the Greeks. They also pioneered in the organization of expeditions of philhellene volunteers and the shipping of munitions as well as the reception of refugees in Paris. Finally, it is worth mentioning that a secret organization of the Greeks of Paris, the "Hellinoglosson Xenodocheion" was formed in 1819. Its objective was attending to the needs of their copatriots. The pioneers of this action were G. Zaligopoulos and A. Tsakaloph, the founder of the Philiki Etaireia.

The city of Marseille was the place where the Greeks created their colony. The temporary settlement of the Greek merchants in Marseille started in 1793. The majority of those who came to Marseille because of the crisis in food supplies left after 1797. During the period of the consulship and Ottoman rule, they were supplanted by Greeks who had fought on the side of the French in Corfu, Cephallonia, Malta and Egypt. After the defeat of the French army and having lost their possessions in their country they had found refuge in Marseille and Paris. These Greeks were not involved in commercial activities. Very often they did not have food to eat or a house to live in. Only a few of them succeeded in joining the French military bodies, while the rest lived in sordid conditions. The group of orthodox Greek merchants who settled in Marseille after 1815 was completely different. These Greeks were wealthy and they chose to found branches in the French port. They took root in Marseille, became rich and consolidated their position particularly after the War of Greek Independence of 1821.

Therefore, the first systematic efforts for the foundation of an orthodox church date back to approximately 1820. Already since 1818 the most important Greeks of Marseille gathered in the house of Nikolaos Thiseas from Cyprus. This home was rudimentarily transformed into a church for the practice of the religious duties of the Greeks. In 1820, on the tolerance of the authorities of Marseille and despite the negative position of Paris a small church was built in street St. Savourin and Arsenios Giannoukos was appointed as vicar of the church. The Greeks were obliged to keep the doors closed during the liturgy and to avoid public celebrations and ceremonies. Despite the fact that the presence of the orthodox chapel was fragile and depended on the good will of the mayor of Marseille, this church constituted a rallying centre of the Greeks of the French port. The most wealthy members of the Greek colony which had contributed financially to the erection of the church constituted an ecclesiastic council that was responsible for dealing with relevant matters. Two administrative members were elected for this purpose on a one or two year term; in most cases they came from families of Chios. In 1835 the extended and more powerful Greek colony of Marseille acquired a new church on the street Rotonde while the regulation of the council was modified and a new text was signed by 21 representatives who were named "syntagmatika meli" (constitution members). Most of them were from the island of Chios.

Thoughts and plans for the foundation of a Greek school in Marseille were made around 1826-28 mainly from French philhellenes who were interested in the education of the Greek children that came with their families as refugees from the revolted Greek region and the children who lived permanently in Marseille. None of these plans succeeded due to financial difficulties while those who dreamt of a Greek school contented their selves to the creation of a Chair of Modern Greek in the royal college of Marseille a few years later. The fundamental knowledge was offered to the children of the Greek colony by the vicar of the orthodox church. From 1830 onward we find many young Greeks studying in the higher educational institutes of France (they preferred subjects relevant to commerce and manufacture). They were often distinguished and awarded prizes for their application in their studies. The Greek parents also showed interest in the girls' education which they sent to girls' boarding schools in France.

There is adequate information on the demographic composition of the colony of Marseille for all its years. According to the census of April 1797 there were about fifty merchants, captains or simple seamen in the colony of Marseille. But these numbers concern the phase of temporary settlement and most of these Greeks abandon the city in the following years. The number of the Greeks serving in the armed forces, who found refuge in Marseille in the period of the Consulship and Ottoman rule, vary from forty to eighty persons with their families. Those who remained were "engrafted" with new dynamic commercial characteristics after 1816 and the number of the Greeks in Marseille reached about one hundred persons. The average age of the newcoming merchants was much lower than the old habitants, that is around 25 years old. In the years of prosperity that followed, the members of the colony were quadrupled in one decade (1825-35), while the constantly increasing number of marriages, baptisms and funerals is indicative of the stability and permanent form that the settlement of the Greeks in Marseille took mainly after 1820.

As pre-mentioned, during the period 1793-1799 the presence of the Greek merchants and seamen in the French port is significant. However, this does not lead to the organization of a stable Greek colony because the Greek merchants of this phase had just taken advantage of the big crisis in food supplies that hit France in the revolutionary years and during the British naval blockade. In this way they made great profit out of selling at extremely high prices mostly wheat to the famished French. The ship masters of Hydra, Psara and Spetses loaded wheat from the Black Sea and Greece and reached Marseille after travelling on sea for 25 days at least as they proceeded with various dangerous manoeuvres in order to break the naval blockade. Some of them had settled permanently in Marseille (e.g. Despotis, Spanolakis) or were blocked and could not leave France. Yet, none of them had come with the intention to stay permanently in Marseille and when the hard years for France had passed, most of them -apart from approximately ten Greeks- abandoned the French port.

The situation changed completely for the future of the Hellenic colony of Marseille after 1816 on the arrival of a dynamic group of new merchants which came mainly from Chios. Most of them were successful apprentices of west European merchants of the East. They took great advantage of the conflicts between Britain and France and of the fact that France never succeeded in winning back its position in the Eastern trade as it was greatly effected by the constant internal troubles and the external wars. Thus, these new merchants consolidated their position in the Mediterranean. In addition, they profited of the restoration of peace in Marseille after the fall of Napoleon and the abolition of the 20% tax that was imposed by the French authorities on the foreign merchants until 1815 and chose Marseille for the foundation of their branches and the consolidation of their interests. Some of the well-known firms that were gradually created in Marseille after 1816 are "Amiras Loukas and Son", "Karallis and Company", "Argentis Rallis and Company", "Prasakakis Bros", "Zizinias Petrokokkinos and Agelastos", etc.

The majority of the Greek merchants of Marseille used their own ships as means of transportation for their mercantile activities following the sea routes that connected Smyrna and Constantinople to Marseille. Their intermediate stops were all the big Mediterranean ports (Trieste, Livorno, etc.). The most important products they transported from the Eastern Mediterranean to Marseille were cotton, wool, silk, olive oil, animal hides, sponges, timber, etc. The merchandise that were exported from Marseille were products such as textiles, wine, glassware, colonial products, etc.. During periods of crisis in food supplies (e.g. 1816-17) the profiteering exploitation of cereals was usual.

The Greek merchants of Marseille were organized in collective companies. In many cases they constituted only a part of the whole Mediterranean mercantile network which had branches in all the big ports. Each collective company was a family business. Therefore, it was the relatives or equal legal members that were employed in the headquarters which were mainly in the Ottoman Empire. This established relationships of trust. The most common and particularly profit-making tactic that the Greek merchants adopted was buying on credit and accepting cash only when selling. In addition, the fact that the raw materials brought from the East were rather expensive due to their need in the French manufacture while the manufactured products they bought in France were cheap because of the competition with the other manufacturing countries maximized their profit.

As for the behaviour of the Greek merchants after 1820, first of all, there was a change in orientation which was expressed with the increase of the trading relations with the ports of Alexandria and the Black Sea; the port of Smyrna was now less preferred. Secondly, there was the intention of settling permanently in Marseille. This was expressed by the number of petitions for obtaining the French citizenship. The state of turmoil generated by the War of Greek Independence in the eastern Mediterranean as well as the later creation of the small Greek kingdom which confronted various problems and was of small mercantile importance - at least for the first years - justify the preference of the Greeks to settle in a foreign country and avoid returning to Greece.

In contradiction to the Catholic Greeks of Marseille, merchants and army men which had been assimilated in the French society by 1830, as almost all of them had married French women, the orthodox merchants and mainly those from Chios maintained their particularity. Mostly the lowest classes, retailers, seamen, and small shop-owners always constituted a separate group in the French society, a picturesque group with that wore their traditional costumes and had "walrus mustaches". Although they remained to a great extent rallied by living all together close to the Place Royale, in the course of time, the most wealthy merchants preferred to move to the bourgeois quarters as their profession demanded.

During the War of Greek Independence of 1821, Marseille was one of the most important points of embarkment of philhellene volunteers, loading of arms and all sorts of supplies for Greece as well as a place of reception of Greek refugees. There were also many Greek volunteers (D. Nazos, G. Labros, I. Michalakis, N. Zoukas, D. Emmanouil, etc.) among the philhellene volunteers of different nationalities. We also know that some wealthy merchants, for example Prasakakis, Petrokokkinos, Rakis, Omiros, Argentis and others participated in philhellenic associations and undertook the responsibility of organization and financing of philhellenic missions. The most active must have been the members of the Prasakakis family which financed two missions in 1825 that costed 125.000 and 59.000 francs. They were also present in the organization of the reception of the Greek refugees that started coming to the French port already from July 1821. In the beginning, around 30 Cypriots arrived in Marseille; later some Greeks from Thessaloniki - first the families Kaftatzoglou and Karissis, while the majority of the refugees were those that had escaped from the massacres in Smyrna and Chios. Some of these refugees, especially the last, stayed in homes of families they already knew. The others confronted more difficulties. They often confronted food and lodging problems as the financial support of the philhellenic organizations was not enough. Nevertheless, some of them remained in Marseille and tried very hard to survive, while others sought a better life in other Greek colonies or returned after a few years in Greece.