Vartan Matiossian
Juan (Mgrdich) Binayan was an Armenian from Van who, in 1889, embarked from Marseilles to South America. Born around 1855-1858, he had apparently been involved in some revolutionary activities; therefore in 1874 he had to flee his birthplace. He would never be able to go back. Before going to Marseilles, he had lived and worked in Odessa, Constantinople, Tripoli, Alexandria, and Malta. Attracted by the legendary stories telling “in Chile, you pick gold from the streets with your own hands,” he settled in the capital, Santiago.
