History of Corfu begins ca. 750
B.C. First inhabitants of Corfu were Illyrians. In 734 B.C. Corinthians made
Corcyra important and prosperous city. The island became the second naval
power in Greece after Corinth, and established a number of colonies. Corcyra
was the first maritime city, which builds a fleet of triremes, in about 492
B.C., and often fought on behalf of Athens. In 375 B.C. Corcyra joined the
Athenian Confederation. Later the island was taken over by many states and it
become independent in 255 B.C. when Alexander, the last powerful King of
Epiros died.
Corfu
Under Romans
In the summer 229 B.C. Romans took over the
island and thus Corcyra became the first Greek city to place itself under
Rome. Romans governed the island for more than five centuries from 229 B.C. to
ca. 337 A.D. Corcyra remained to a certain degree a free state with its own
laws and magistrates. The island was used as a naval station for Roman
activities in Eastern Mediterranean and various military campaigns.
Byzantine
Corfu
In 395 Corcyra was included in
the Eastern Roman, and later Byzantine Empire, and remained so until the
capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204. It was during the
Byzantine dominion that the feudal system was first introduced to Corfu.
Corfu Under the Despots of Epiros (1214-1267)
From 1214 until 1267 the island was taken over
by the Despotate of Epiros, an independent Greek State under a prince of
Byzantine House of Angeloi Comneni who assumed the title of ‘Despot’.
The Angevins in Corfu (1267-1386)
During Angevin rule, the island of Corfu was
divided into four bailiwicks, called the Circle, the Mountain, the Center and
Lefkimmi. Corfu was a valuable possession for the Angevins, mainly because of
the island’s economic sources, such as its vineyards, olive-trees and
saltpans. The Angevin occupation ended in 1386 with the death of Charles III.
of Anjou.
The Venetian Domination (1386-1797)
Corfiots accepted the rule of Venice who took formal possession of Corfu on
the 9th of June 1386 and ruled the island for more than four
centuries. The Venetians showed a keen interest in agriculture, especially in
the cultivation of olive-trees. To this Venetian policy Corfu owes its
countless olive groves, which cover almost the whole island. The long Venetian
domination had a marked influence on local Greek language, which absorbed into
itself a wide range of Italian and Venetian words. In spite this fact; the
Greek language was almost universally used in all legal documents.
The Republican French (1797-1799)
Venetian rule ended in 1797 when Napoleon
Bonaparte conquered and abolished the Republic of Venice. By the Treaty of
Campoformio, between France, Austria and the other Ionian islands were ceded
to the French Republic, which occupied them for two years from 1797 to 1799.
The
Russians and Turks
After the defeat of the French at the “Battle
of the Nile” (1st of August, 1798), Russia and Turkey formed an
alliance and declared war on France, conquering all the Ionian Islands except
Corfu. The French authorities, realizing that the enemy would soon attack the
island, took all possible defensive measures. The fights lasted until 3rd
of March 1799 when French authorities finally delivered the city of Corfu to
Russians and Turks. One of the first official acts of the Russians was the
reinstatement of a Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Corfu.
The
Septinsular State (1800-1807) and John Capodistrias
Following the Treaty of Constantinople between
Russia and Turkey a semi-independent State of Seven Ionian Islands, the
so-called Septinsular State, was constituted in 1800. It was the first Greek
State to be established after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The
executive body was called the Senate, its Prince being Count Spyridon-George
Theotokis, who appointed Count of John Capodistrias as his General Secretary
of State. John Capodistrias (1776-1831) was a statesman and diplomat of
European stature. In 1827 the Greek Assembly unanimously elected him the
President of Independent Greece. He laid the foundations of the regenerated
State and organized public education as well as political and agricultural
structures. He was assassinated in 1831.
The
Imperial French (1807-1814)
Following the Treaty of Tilsit
(1807) between the Emperor Napoleon I, and Czar Alexander I, the Russians
ceded their rights over the Ionian Islands to the French, who sent to Corfu
General Cesar Berthier. The French Imperial administration founded in 1808 the
Ionian Academy for the advancement of Letters, Arts and Sciences. In 1811 the
first school of Fine Arts in Corfu was founded.
British Protectorate (1814-1864)
On the 30th of May 1814, soon after
the fall of Napoleon, the British occupied the island. There were ten High
Commissioners ruling on the island and each of them changed Corfu. The Ionian
Islands were finally, on the 21st of May 1864 united to Greece,
which already in 1833 had become a sovereign independent Kingdom under King
Otto.
History of Corfu, from ancient times down to
present day, has been a particularly chequered one under a long succession of
foreign rulers, good or bad, yet never obscuring the fundamental Greek
character of the island and its inhabitants.
Bibliography:
STAMATOPOULOS, N.: Old
Corfu, History
and Culture,
K. Mihalas s.a., Athens, 1993
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