Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands
It is believed that the Venetian period on the Ionian Islands was generally prosperous, especially compared with the coinciding Tourkokratia — Turkish rule over the remainder of present-day Greece.In the shifting Italian borders of the following centuries, Venice benefited from remaining under the control of the Roman Empire - increasingly as the furthest Northwestern outpost of the now Constantinople centered power.[10] Moreover, by styling themselves "Lord of one-quarter and one-eighth of the whole Empire of Romania" after the Crusade, the Doges of Venice contributed to the deterioration of the relations between the two states.Although Corfu was recovered by the Byzantines by 1191, the other islands henceforth remained lost to Byzantium, and formed a County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos under William's Greek admiral Margaritus of Brindisi.[26] In 1207 though, doge Pietro Ziani ceded the island as a feudum to ten Venetian nobles, provided that they demonstrate loyalty and devotion and that they pay taxes.[27] Corfu passed in the hands of the Despotate of Epirus around 1214, and was captured in 1257 by Manfred of Sicily, who put his admiral Philippe Chinard there in charge of his eastern possessions.[37] After the partition of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, Cythera fell into Venetian hands in 1238 through the marriage of Marco Venier with the daughter of the Greek lord of the island.[38] Cythera and Anticythera constituted part of the Stato da Màr for the first time in 1363 followed by an interruption of a three-year Turkish rule, between 1715 and 1718.In 1481, two years after the beginning of the Turkish rule, Antonio Tocco invaded and briefly occupied Cephalonia and Zante but he was soon driven out by the Venetians.[42][43][44] Then, Cephalonia, after sixteen years of Turkish occupation (1484–1500), became part of the Stato da Màr on 24 December 1500, with the Siege of the Castle of St.[46] The Venetian authorities found the island was already being repopulated by members of the Galatis family, who laid claim to it as their property, having received rights over Ithaca under the Tocco regime.This family and its followers inhabited settlements on the island, received fiefs from the Venetian Senate and indulged in a tremendously profitable maritime trade as well as piracy against the Ottomans.[54] The signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio, on 17 October 1797, marked the dissolution of the Republic of Venice and the sharing of its territories between France and Austria.[60] The French rule, however, did not last as Russia allied with the Ottoman Empire in September 1798 and in 1799 a Russo-Ottoman naval expedition captured the islands.[62] The name of the new state was agreed to be the "Septinsular Republic" and included all the territories of the three former French departments except for the continental possessions of Parga, Preveza, Vonitsa and Butrint.[63] The civil and military governor of the Ionian Islands was the Provveditore generale da Mar, who lived on Corfu and had the supreme peacetime command of the Venetian navy.The reserve depicts the winged and haloed lion of Saint Marc in a front view, holding the book of the Gospel in his fore-paws.[99] Greek remained spoken by the peasantry whereas Venetian was adopted by the upper class and it was generally preferred within the towns (like in Corfu city, where nearly all the population spoke the Veneto de Mar).[101] The Venetians did little in the area of education,[102] mainly due to the fact that schooling was not considered a responsibility of the state at that time in Europe but a private matter.[110] According to the law, Greek Orthodox priests and monks had to accept the Catholics as their superiors,[110] though the Venetians placed the interests of the Republic ahead of those of the Papacy.[116] Across formerly Venetian-owned Greek territory, particularly the Ionian Islands, the memory of the Republic lives on in the social consciousness of the local population with a sentiment of nostalgia despite its troubled history.[117] The sheer duration of the Venetian period has shaped modern-day Heptanesian culture into an amalgamate of its Greek and Italian heritage in all aspects of everyday life.They defend its place on the regional curriculum as "a tradition" and deem it "necessary (…) owing to the scale of Italian tourism as well as other, e.g. cultural and commercial ties with the country".[128] After the fall of Greece, in early April 1941, the invaders divided its lands into three occupation zones; the Italians occupied much of the country, including the Ionians.[129] Mussolini informed General Carlo Geloso that the Ionian Islands would form a separate Italian province through a de facto annexation, but the Germans would not approve it.
ItalianVenetianColonyRepublic of VeniceVenetian RepublicMiddle AgesFirst Ottoman–Venetian WarSecond Ottoman–Venetian WarTreaty of PassarowitzInvasion of VeniceCounty Palatine of Cephalonia and ZakynthosFirst period of French rule in the Ionian IslandsGreeceHistory of GreeceNeolithic GreecePelasgiansGreek Bronze AgeHelladic chronologyCycladicMinoanMyceneanAncient GreeceGreek Dark AgesArchaic GreeceClassical GreeceHellenistic GreeceRoman GreeceMedieval GreeceByzantine GreeceFrankish and Latin statesEarly modern GreeceVenetian CreteOttoman GreeceModern GreeceSeptinsular RepublicWar of IndependenceFirst Hellenic RepublicKingdom of GreeceNational SchismSecond Hellenic Republic4th of August RegimeAxis occupationCollaborationist regimeFree GreeceCivil WarMilitary JuntaThird Hellenic RepublicAgricultureAlphabetConstitutionEconomyEthnonymsLanguageMilitaryIonian IslandsCytheraAnticytheraCouncil of CorfuCephaloniaIthacaLefkadaStato da MàrNapoleon BonapartePeloponneseAdriatic SeaTurkish ruleProvveditore generale da Marraisinsolive oilVenetian liraLombardsRoman EmpireConstantinopleJustinian IExarchate of RavennaRavennaVenetian lagoonsEmperorPax NicephoriByzantine–Venetian Treaty of 1082Fourth Crusadesack of its capitalNicaean–Venetian Treaty of 1219Sicilian VespersCharlesKing of SicilycapturedProvveditoreAngelokastroModern GreekKatharevousaprovincesAchaeaEpirus vetusByzantineCephalleniaByzantine–Norman WarsPisansNormansWilliam II of SicilyMargaritus of BrindisiTocco familyPartitio terrarum imperii RomaniaePietro ZianifeudumDespotate of EpirusManfred of SicilyadmiralPhilippe ChinardBeneventoTreaty of ViterboAngevinKingdom of NaplesOrsini familyHouse of AnjouCharles VHoly Leaguethat of July 1716Marco Venierbetween 1715 and 1718Siege of the Castle of St. GeorgeGalatisKallergiLeonardo I ToccoFrancesco MorosiniMorean War