During the 19th and 20th centuries, the emergence of the island of Kefalonia as an important maritime centre of the Greek and non-Greek seas had a direct impact on the size and quality of the Kefalonian maritime population. Shipping was now for the Kefalonian people one of the most important and vital economic activities; an activity offering them the possibility not only of a partial or total disengagement from the land cultivation, but of a direct, open and fruitful communication with the developing European world.
(Sources: (a) Odysseus, Ionian Maritime History Database, 1810-1864∙ (b) Kapetanakis, Panayiotis S., ‘The deep-sea going merchant fleet of the Seven Islands during the time of British conquest and protection and the Cephalonian prominence (1809/15-1864). Fleet and ports, cargoes and sea-routes, maritime centres and seamen, entrepreneurship and networks, society and shipowning elites,’ Ph.D. thesis, Dpt of History, Ionian University, Corfu 2010 typescript. (http://phdtheses.ekt.gr/ead d/handle/10442/18428) (in Greek); (c) Harlaftis, Gelina, with Vlassopoulos Nikos, Pontoporeia, Historical Registry Books of Greek cargo sailing ships and steamships, 1830-1939, E.L.I.A./Niarchos Foundation, Athens 2002 (in Greek)).
Kefalonia: Seamen: Indicative content of the page as a short text in english.