Ionian Islands

Coordinates: 3830N 2030E

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , Ionia

nisia; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , Ionioi Ionian Islands
Nsoi; Italian: Isole Ionie) are a group of islands in
Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e. Traditional region of Greece
"the Seven Islands" (Greek: , Heptansa or
, Heptansos; Italian: Eptaneso), but the group
includes many smaller islands as well as the seven
principal ones. As a distinct historic region they date to
the centuries-long Venetian rule, which preserved them
from becoming part of the Ottoman Empire, and created a
distinct cultural identity with many Italian influences.
The Ionian Islands became part of the modern Greek state
in 1864. Administratively today they belong to the Ionian
Islands Region except for Kythera, which belongs to the
Attica Region.

Ionian Islands (blue) within Greece

Contents Country Greece

Capital Kerkyra
1 Geography
Population (2011)
2 Etymology
Total 207.855
3 History
3.1 Roman and Byzantine rule
3.2 Venetian rule
3.3 Napoleonic era
3.4 British influence
3.5 Union with Greece
3.6 World War II
3.7 1953 earthquake
3.8 Today
4 Demographics
5 Culture
6 Economy
6.1 Tourism
7 Major communities
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Geography
The seven islands are; from north to south:

Kerkyra () usually known as Corfu in English and Corf in Italian

Paxi () also known as Paxos in English
Lefkada () also known as Lefkas in English
Ithaki () usually known as Ithaca in English
Kefalonia () often known as Kefalonia, Cephalonia and Kefallinia in English
Zakynthos () sometimes known as Zante in English and Italian
 Kythira () usually known as Cythera in English and
sometimes known as Cerigo in English and Italian

The six northern islands are off the west coast of Greece, in the
Ionian Sea. The seventh island, Kythira, is off the southern tip of
the Peloponnese, the southern part of the Greek mainland.
Kythira is not part of the region of the Ionian Islands, as it is
included in the region of Attica.

Etymology
In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios () was used as an
epithet for the sea between Epirus and Italy in which the Ionian
Islands are found because Io swam across it.[1] Latin
transliteration, as well as Modern Greek pronunciation, may
The Ionian islands (Heptanese)
suggest that the Ionian Sea and Islands are somehow related to
Ionia, an Anatolian region; in fact the Ionian Sea and Ionian
Islands are spelled in Greek with an omicron (), whereas
Ionia has an omega (), reflecting a classical difference in
pronunciation. In Modern Greek omicron and omega represent the same
sound, but the two words are still distinguished by stress: the western
"Ionia" is accented on the antepenult (IPA: [ionia]), and the eastern on
the penult (IPA: [ionia]). In English, the adjective relating to Ionia is
Ionic, not Ionian.

The islands themselves are known by a rather confusing variety of

names. During the centuries of rule by Venice, they acquired Venetian
View of Lefkada
names, by which some of them are still known in English (and in
Italian). Kerkyra was known as Corf, Ithaki as Val di Compare,
Kythera as Cerigo, Lefkada as Santa Maura and Zakynthos as Zante.

A variety of spellings are used for the Greek names of the islands, particularly in historical writing. Kefallonia
is often spelled as Cephallenia or Cephalonia, Ithaki as Ithaca, Kerkyra as Corcyra, Kythera as Cythera,
Lefkada as Leucas or Leucada and Zakynthos as Zacynthus or Zante. Older or variant Greek forms are
sometimes also used: Kefallinia for Kefallonia and Paxos or Paxoi for Paxi.

History
The islands were settled by Greeks at an early date, possibly as early as 1200 BC, and certainly by the 9th
century BC. The early Eretrian settlement at Kerkyra was displaced by colonists from Corinth in 734 BC. The
islands were mostly a backwater during Ancient Greek times and played little part in Greek politics. The one
exception was the conflict between Kerkyra and its mother-City Corinth in 434 BC, which brought intervention
from Athens and triggered the Peloponnesian War.

Ithaca was the name of the island home of Odysseus in the epic Ancient Greek poem the Odyssey by Homer.
Attempts have been made to identify Ithaki with ancient Ithaca, but the geography of the real island cannot be
made to fit Homer's description. Archeological investigations have revealed interesting findings in both
Kefalonia and Ithaca.

Roman and Byzantine rule

By the 4th century BC, most of the islands, were absorbed into the empire of Macedon. Some remained under
the control of the Macedonian Kingdom until 146 BC, when the Greek peninsula was gradually annexed by
Rome. After 400 years of peaceful Roman rule, the islands passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire.
Under Byzantine rule, from the mid-8th century, they formed the theme
of Cephallenia. The islands were a frequent target of Saracen raids and
from the late 11th century, saw a number of Norman and Italian attacks.
Most of the islands fell to William II of Sicily in 1185. Although Corfu
and Lefkas remained under Byzantine control, Kefallonia and
Zakynthos became the County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos
until 1357, when this entity was merged with Lefkada and Ithaki to
become the Duchy of Leucadia under French and Italian dukes. Corfu,
Paxi and Kythera were taken by the Venetians in 1204, after the
dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade. These
became important overseas colonies of the Republic and were used as
way-stations for their maritime trade with the Levant.

Venetian rule

From 1204, the Republic of Venice controlled Corfu and slowly all the
Ionian islands fell under Venetian rule. In the 15th century, the Statue of Achilles in the gardens of the
Ottomans conquered most of Greece, but their attempts to conquer the Achilleion (Corfu).
islands were largely unsuccessful. Zakynthos passed permanently to
Venice in 1482, Kefallonia and Ithaki in 1483, Lefkada in 1502.
Kythera had been in Venetian hands since 1238.

The islands thus became the only part of the Greek-speaking world to
escape Ottoman rule, which gave them both a unity and an importance in
Greek history they would otherwise not have had. Corfu was the only
Greek island never conquered by the Turks.

Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian (or Venetian
in some cases) and converted to Roman Catholicism, but the majority
remained Greek ethnically, linguistically, and religiously.

In the 18th century, a Greek national independence movement began to

emerge, and the free status of the Ionian islands made them the natural
base for exiled Greek intellectuals, freedom fighters and foreign
sympathisers. The islands became more self-consciously Greek as the 19th
century, the century of romantic nationalism, neared. The Lion of St. Mark, symbol of the
Venetian Republic, at the New
Fortress of Corfu, the longest-held of
Napoleonic era
Venice's overseas possessions.

In 1797, however, Napolon Bonaparte conquered Venice, and by the

Treaty of Campo Formio the islanders found themselves under French rule,
the islands being organised as the dpartments Mer-ge, Ithaque and
Corcyre. In 1798, the Russian Admiral Ushakov evicted the French, and
established the Septinsular Republic under joint Russo-Ottoman protection
the first time Greeks had had even limited self-government since the fall
of Constantinople in 1453. The plenipotentiary of the Czar was Count
George Mocenigo, a noble from Zante who had earlier served as Russian
diplomat in Italy.[2] However, in 1807, they were ceded again to the French
in the Treaty of Tilsit and occupied by the French Empire. Flag of the Septinsular Republic.

British influence

In 1809, the British defeated the French fleet in Zakynthos (October 2, 1809) captured Kefallonia, Kythera and
Zakynthos, and took Lefkada in 1810. The French held out in Corfu until 1814. The Treaty of Paris in 1815
turned the islands into the "United States of the Ionian Islands" under British protection (November 5, 1815). In
January 1817, the British granted the islands a new constitution. The
islanders elected an Assembly of 40 members, who advised the British
High Commissioner. The British greatly improved the islands'
communications, and introduced modern education and justice systems.
The islanders welcomed most of these reforms, and took up afternoon tea,
cricket and other English pastimes.
Flag of the United States of the
Once Greek independence was established after 1830, however, the Ionian Islands.
islanders began to resent foreign colonial rule by the British, and to press
for Enosis, i. e. union with Greece. The British statesman William Ewart
Gladstone toured the islands and recommended that having already Malta,
giving the islands to Greece wouldn't hurt the interest of the British
Empire. The British government resisted, since like the Venetians they
found the islands made useful naval bases. They also regarded the
Bavarian-born king of Greece, King Otto, as unfriendly to Britain.
However, in 1862, Otto was deposed and a pro-British king, George I, was
installed.

Union with Greece

In 1862, Britain decided to transfer the islands to Greece, as a gesture of

support intended to bolster the new king's popularity. On May 2, 1864, the
British departed and the islands became three provinces of the Kingdom of
Greece though Britain retained the use of the port of Corfu. On 21 May
1864 the Ionian Islands officially reunited with Greece.[3] Prince Philippos
of Greece and Denmark was born in Corfu in 1921 and grew up to become
Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Ioannis Kapodistrias from Corfu
island, first governor of the modern
World War II Greek state.

In 1941, when Axis forces occupied Greece, the Ionian Islands (except
Kythera) were handed over to the Italians. In 1943, the Germans replaced the Italians, and deported the
centuries-old Jewish community of Corfu to their deaths. By 1944, most of the islands were under the control
of the EAM/ELAS resistance movement, and they have remained a stronghold of left-wing sentiment ever
since.

1953 earthquake

The 1953 Ionian islands earthquake occurred with a surface wave magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli
intensity of X (Extreme) on August 12, 1953. Building damage was extensive and the southern islands of
Kefalonia and Zakynthos were practically levelled. The islands were reconstructed from the ground up over the
following years under a strict building code. The code has proven extremely effective, as many earthquakes
since that time have caused no damage to new buildings.

Today

Today, all the islands are part of the Greek region of the Ionian Islands (Ionioi Nisoi), except Kythera, which is
part of the region of Attica. Kerkyra has a population of 103,300 (including Paxoi), Zakynthos 40,650,
Kefallonia 39,579 (including Ithaca), Lefkada 22,536, Ithaki 3,052, Kythera 3,000 and Paxi 2,438.

In recent decades, the islands have lost much of their population through emigration and the decline of their
traditional industries, fishing and marginal agriculture. Today, their major industry is tourism. Specifically
Kerkyra, with its harbour, scenery and wealth of ruins and castles, is a favourite stopping place for cruise liners.
British tourists in particular are attracted through having read Gerald Durrell's evocative book My Family and
Other Animals (1956), which describes his childhood on Kerkyra in the
1930s. The novel and movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin are set in
Kefallonia, in which Captain Corelli is part of the Italian occupation force
during the Second World War.

Demographics
The Ionian Islands' official population, excluding Cythera, in 2011 was
207,855, decreased by 1.50% compared to the population in 2001. Corfu (city).
Nevertheless, the region remains the third by population density with
90.1/km nationwide, well above the national of 81.96/km. The most
populous of the major islands is Corfu with a population of 104,371,
followed by Zante (40,759), Cephalonia (35,801), Leucas (23.693) and
Ithaca (3.231).[4] The foreign-born population was in 2001 19,360 or 9.3%,
the majority of which was concentrated in Corfu and Zante. Most of them
originate from Albania (13,536).[5] The fertility rate for 2011 according to
Eurostat was 1.35 live births per woman during her lifetime.[6]

Culture
Zakynthos (city).

Economy
The regional Gross Domestic Product for 2010 was 4,029 million euros.
The GDP per capita for the same year was 18,440 euros per capita which
was lower than the national median of 20,481. However, the GDP per
capita of Cephalonia and Zante, 23,275 and 24,616 respectively, was much
higher than the national figure.[7] Additionally, unemployment for 2012
was 14.7, the lowest among all Greek regions, and much lower compared
to the national unemployment of 24.2.[8]
Sun-drying of Zante currant on
Tourism
Zakynthos.

The region is a popular tourist destination. The airports of Corfu, Zante

and Cephalonia were in the top ten in Greece by number of international
arrivals, with 1,386,289 international arrivals for 2012, with Corfu being
the sixth airport by number of arrivals nationwide, with Zante and
Cephalonia also being in the top ten. While Cephalonia Airport had the
biggest increase nationwide by 13.11% compared to 2011, while Corfu had
an increase of 6.31%.[9]'[10]

Major communities
Argostli (), in Kefalonia
Krkyra (), in Corfu
Lefkda (), in Lefkada
Lixouri (), in Kefalonia
Zkynthos (), in Zakynthos
Carnival in Kerkyra by Charalambos
See also Pachis.

Corfiot Italians
Homer's Ithaca
 Greek islands

References
1. LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. (http://artflx.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.35:
3:172.LSJ.640026).
2. , , , , . 45, ISBN 978-
960-6845-32-1
3. ", " (http://tab.ionio.gr/culture/activities/projects/epigraphs/viewer.ph
p?id=195). Ionian U. Ionian U.
4. (http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/A1602/PressReleases/A1
602_SAM01_DT_DC_00_2011_02_F_GR.pdf) (PDF) (in Greek). Retrieved 18 July 2014.
5. 3: ,
(http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/A1602/Other/A1602_SAM07_TB
_DC_00_2001_03_F_GR.pdf) (PDF) (in Greek). Retrieved 18 July 2014.
6. "Eurostat Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table" (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.
do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tgs00100&plugin=1). epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved
2014-04-11.
7. "PAGE-themes" (http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/PAGE-themes?p_param=A0703).
statistics.gr. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
8. "EUROPA PRESS RELEASES Press release Unemployment in the EU27 regions in 2012 Regional
unemployment rates ranged from 2.5% in Salzburg and Tirol to 38.5% in Ceuta and 34.6% in Andaluca"
(http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STAT-13-78_en.htm). europa.eu. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
9. "Greek Tourism: Facts and Figures 2012" (http://sete.gr/files/Media/Ebook/2012/Facts%20%20Figures%
202012%20teliko.pdf) (PDF) (in English and Greek). Retrieved 18 July 2014.
10. "INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVALS AT THE MAIN AIRPORTS, JAN-DEC 2012/2011-
PROVISIONAL DATA" (http://www.tovima.gr/files/1/2013/01/09/stoixeia%20setedec12.pdf) (PDF) (in
English and Greek). Retrieved 18 July 2014.

External links
Ionian Islands The Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
Ionian Islands at DMOZ

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This page was last edited on 6 August 2017, at 22:06.

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