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Nikolaos Skoufas

Nikolaos Skoufas was one of the three founders of the Friendly Society (Filiki Eteria) which prepared the ground for the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire.

He was born in 1779 in the village of Komboti, Arta prefecture. A merchant by profession, Skoufas left for Russia for business purposes but, while there, became acquainted with Athanasios Tsakaloff and Emmanuel Xanthos. The three men came up with the idea of founding a secret organisation to prepare the ground for Greek independence and Filiki Eteria was born in 1814. Skoufas dedicated the rest of his life to the cause. For this purpose he went to Moscow but his ideas did not meet with the approval of many people of the local Greek community.

In 1818, the three partners moved to Constantinople to further their cause but in July of that same year Skoufas fell ill and died.