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| Bartolomeo Mitre |
By Arben Llalla
Albanians have historically made careers in many countries of the world, they were the first in Egypt, heads of state of Romania, Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc. During the historical research about the Albanians in Greece, I came across some data that the First President of the Democratic Republic of Argentina was Bartolomeo Miter Martinez who was a politician, military, writer, journalist, former Governor of Buenos Aires, and one of the men of the state known in Latin America.
According to some records, the Miter family had come to Argentina from Venice and was of Greek origin, but from my research, I learned that in fact the original Miter family was from Himara and his great-grandfather was called Dhimitër Mitropulli. Many Albanian families of the Orthodox faith before the 20th century due to the lack of an Albanian Orthodox Church went to pray in the Greek Orthodox Church and their children attended Greek schools declaring themselves of Greek origin in emigration. We have had many such cases during the previous centuries, but even today. We will bring information that the family of Bartolome Miter Martinez was from Himara.
The Mitru or Dhimitri family left Himara around 1670 and emigrated first to Venice. This family had close ties with the Albanians from Labova, the great humanist Vangjel Zhapa.
Bartolomeo Mitre was born in June 1821 in Buenos Aires. From childhood, he was distinguished for his rebellious spirit, arrogant and indifferent to the challenges of life. At the age of 15, he left Buenos Aires for several other Latin American countries.
From 1836-1839 he studied at the military school artillery branch and received the rank of Lieutenant. During this period he published many poems and articles in various Latin American newspapers.
In January 1841 he married Delfina Maria Luisa De Vedia y Perez, from this marriage they had six children, two daughters and four sons.
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| Bartolome Mitre and the cover of Historia de Belgrano |
From the many political disputes he had, he was forced several times to change settlements living in Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia. He led many battles and was elected Minister of Defense and Foreign Minister of the Latin American provinces several times. During the 1840s Bartolomeo met the Arbëresh Giuseppe Garibaldi whom he greatly adored.
During the 1850s we see Miter as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Provincial Governments of Buenos Aires and further in 1860 Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires until 1862. On October 12, 1862, he was elected the first President of the Democratic Republic of Argentina and held this post until October 12, 1868. He for the years he led Argentina has been hailed as the Chairman of the Country Unity and Economic Development. He run several more times for president of Argentina as in 1874 and 1891, but lost.
Bartolomeo Miter has made a great contribution to the field of Argentine culture, in 1870 he founded the newspaper La Nacion, is the founder of the Academy of History of Argentina, wrote many poems, and published two historical books Historia de Belgrano and Historia de San Martin.
In 1893 Bartolomeo Miter received the title of Grand Master of the Grand Masonry Lodge in Argentina, and in 1901 was named Honorary Member of this Lodge. He died in 1906, the house where I lived from 1860 until his death was turned into the Miter Museum, which contains parts of the history of Argentina, the newspaper he founded La Nacion is still run by the heirs of Bartolomeo Miter.