The formation of the land ownership system in Greece and the British diplomacy (1833 – 1843)

Project manager: Evi Karouzou

The association of the land ownership system with British diplomacy might be considered strange, since diplomacy is generally related to political issues that are subjected to the short duration and not to issues associated with structures of longer duration. However, this association is of primal importance for the first decade of the foundation of the Greek State, since it is exactly during that period that many of the structures of the Greek society and economy of later periods are issues disputed among many social, political and diplomatic forces. The land ownership status was still under formation and the whole process was influenced not only by the social and economic features of land ownership, but, mainly, by its political character. This political character emanates from the mortgaging of the national lands for the loans of the Greek Struggle for independence, the connection made between the national lands and the third installment of the 60.000 francs loan, the relations between the Crown and the political and social forces with the land ownership et.c. This political aspect of the land ownership issue might help to explain its connection to the European Powers. This project investigates the position of British diplomacy towards the land possession issue in Greece seen not only as political stands but also as the position taken by a European power that wishes to intervene in the formation process of a new born state.