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A very brief history of the Ionian Islands, GreeceThe Ionian Islands are traditionally known as "Eptanisa" or "The Seven Islands". The seven islands (from north to south) are:
The six most northern islands are off the west coast of mainland Greece within the Ionian periphery. The most southerly island of Kythira is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and not normally associated with the Ionian due to its geographical location.
Venetian Rule By 1204 Corfu fell under Venetian rule and the remainder of the Ionian Islands followed soon after. By the 15th century most of Greek was under Ottoman (Turkish) rule, but the Ionian Islands remained largely christain thanks to the Venetians. This gave the Ionian Islands an importance and prominance within Greek history and politics it probably would not have had otherwise. In the 18th century with the rise of the Greek Independence movement, The Ionian Islands became a natural home for freedom fighters, exiles and foreign sympathisers.
Napoleonic Rule In 1797 Venice fell to Napolean and under the treaty Campo Formio, the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands, found themselves under French rule and after a brief stint under joint Russian-Ottoman protection, they found themselves once again annexed to the French Empire in 1807. The United States of the Ionian Islands Between 1809 and 1814 the British gradually took control of the Ionian Islands from the French, and in 1815 the Treaty of Paris resulted in the formation of the United States of the Ionian Islands, under British protection. Under British rule the islands infrastructure, education and justice systems were greatly improved and the islanders elected an assembley of 40 members which advised the British High Commission. The improvements brought in by the British were generally welcomed by the locals, however when Greece won back its independence in 1830, the United States of the Ionian Islands started to push for its own union with Greece "enosis".The British rejected the initial request for independence, due to the usefullnes of the Ionians Islands as a naval base and also the fact that the current king of Greece (King Otto) was not friendly towards the British. In 1862 King Otto was replaced by King George I, who was pro British, and as a show of support for the new King, the British handed over the Ionian Islands to Greece. They retained the use of Corfu port and Prince Philip was indeed born there in 1921.
Second World War In 1941 the Italians took control of the Ionian Islands and were subsequently replaced by the Germans in 1943. The Ionian Islands quickly became largely under the control of the National Liberation Front of Greece.
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