Page 40 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Corfu & the Ionian Islands

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Moments in History

Colonization by
Venetian Rule (1204–
1 4
1797)
Mainland Greeks
(700–500 BC) The Republic of Venice took control of
Settlers from mainland Greece the Ionians from 1204. This was a key
arrived on the Ionian islands around period in the history of the islands –
the mid-8th century BC, but almost it was due to Venetian fortifica tions
no traces of their settlements survive that they avoided occupation during
except for the archaeological finds the Ottoman invasion of Greece. As a
on display in museums. In later result, the islands remained Christian.
centuries, the powerful mainland
state of Corinth sent settlers to set
up a vassal colony, Corcyra, on Corfu.
Peloponnesian War
2
(431–404 BC)
In 436 BC, Corcyra, by then a power
to be reckoned with, was drawn
into a war between democratic and
aristocratic factions in Epidamnus,
a smaller city founded by Corcyra
on the mainland. Corinth was drawn
into the conflict, which soon sucked in
Sparta and Corinth’s Peloponnesian
League allies on one side and Greece’s
rival superpower, Athens, on the
other. The ensuing Peloponnesian
War raged across the Hellenic world
for a generation, ending only with the
defeat of Athens in 404 BC.
French leader Napoleon Bonaparte
Septinsular Republic
5
(1800–07)
The Ionian Islands became a part of
France when Napoleon Bonaparte
conquered Venice in 1797. The
following year, the Russians, under
the distin guished naval com mander
Admiral Ushakov, evicted the French
and established the Russo-Ottoman
Septinsular Republic.
Drawing of the battle of Aegospotami French Occupation
Subjugation by Rome
(1807–14)
3 6
(197 BC)
The islands were reclaimed by France
The Ionian Islands were a part of the in 1807 and once again controlled by
Macedonian empire from the 4th cen- the French Empire. Although orga-
tury BC until 197 BC, when Greece nized into départements under the
was subjugated by Rome. The islands previous French rule, they were
enjoyed peace as part of the Roman now considered part of the Illyrian
Empire until Venetian occupiers Provinces. The islands remained
arrived in 1204, after the invasion of strategic locations to the French until
Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade. Napoleon’s empire collapsed in 1814.

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