Republic of the Ionian Islands
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Republic of the Ionian Islands (1800–1815) United States of the Ionian Islands (1815–1864) |
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| Constitution |
United States Constitution of the Ionian Islands January 1, 1818 |
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| Official language | Italian and from 1803 Greek | ||||
| Capital | Corfu (city) | ||||
| Form of government |
Aristocratic Republic (1800–1803) Plutocratic Republic (1803–1807) Democratic Republic (1807–1864) |
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| Government system |
Condominium of Russia and the Ottoman Empire (1798–1807) Protectorate of France (1807–1815) Protectorate of the United Kingdom (1815–1864) |
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| Head of state |
Russian Tsar and Ottoman Sultan (1798–1807) Napoleon Bonaparte (1807–1815) British King (1815–1864) |
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| Head of government |
Senate President Angelo Orio (1800) Senate President Spiridon Theotokis (1800–1803) Principe Spiridon Theotokis (1803) Principe Antoni Komoutos (1803–1807) Senate President Emmanouil Spiridonou Theotokis (1807–1815) Senate President Spiridon Theotokis (18–18?) |
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Area 1864 |
2,659 km² | ||||
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Population 1864 |
236,000 PE | ||||
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Population density 1864 |
88.8 inhabitants / km² | ||||
| currency |
Oboloi (1818–1833) Lepton (1833–1864) |
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| founding |
March 21, 1800 Treaty of Constantinople |
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| resolution |
June 2, 1864 union with the Kingdom of Greece |
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| National anthem | Ymnos is tin Eleftherian | ||||
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The Republic of the Ionian Islands , from 1815 to 1864 United States of the Ionian Islands ( Greek Ἑπτάνησος Πολιτεία , Italian Repubblica Settinsulare , Ottoman جزاييرى صباى موجتميا جومهورو İA Cezayir-i Seb'a-i Müctemia Cümhuru ), was a state that included the Greek islands of Andikythira , Andipaxos , Corfu , Kythira , Lefkada , Ithaka , Kefalonia , Paxos and Zakynthos in the 19th century . The republic came into being in 1800 after the centuries-old rule of the Venetian Republic over the islands ended in 1797. It was briefly under Russian - Ottoman and French protectorate, until in 1815 the British obtained supremacy over the Ionian Islands . The seat of government was the city of Corfu . From 1815 until the unification with the Kingdom of Greece in 1864, the Republic of the United States was called the Ionian Islands . After the larger islands belonging to it, it was also called the Republic of the Seven Islands . The official languages were Italian and Greek , and Venetian was often spoken .
Republic of the Seven Islands (1800–1807)
With the end of the Republic of Venice in the Peace of Campo Formio in 1797, the Ionian Islands, which had been Venetian until then, fell to France. The French divided the islands into the three departments Corcyre (seat: Corfu), Ithaque (seat: Argostoli) and Mer-Egée (seat: Zakynthos) and placed them under a central administration in Corfu under the direction of Count Theotokis. In 1798/1799 Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which had allied against France, conquered the islands. In the Treaty of Constantinople of March 21, 1800, the allies agreed that the islands should form the Republic of the Seven Islands with the capital Corfu. Russia guaranteed the independence of the new state, which was under Ottoman suzerainty and had to pay an annual tribute of 75,000 piastres to the sultan.
The republic received an aristocratic constitution based on the model of the Ragusa republic . At the head of the state was the Senate , headed by a president , which was composed of representatives of the islands' “great councils”. Members of the Senate and the “Great Councils” could only be members of the nobility. The first President of the Senate was Count Theotokis, and the Senate Secretary was Ioannis Kapodistrias , who later became President of independent Greece. The coat of arms of the new republic was the Venetian golden lion in the blue field, which held seven united arrows in one claw and the Gospel book with the cross and the year 1800 and the corresponding year of the hijra in the other .
In 1803, the “Constituent Assembly of the Ionians” passed a new constitution, through which even non-nobles from a certain income received the right to vote and access to all public offices. According to the constitution of 1803, the executive branch of the republic was the Senate consisting of 17 members under the direction of the Principe (= prince ), who also represented the republic externally . The previous President Spiridon Theotokis became the first Principe . In addition there were 40 "national representatives" as the legislature and the Censura Generale, consisting of three censors under the direction of an ephor, as the highest court. At the same time, Greek was made the official language in place of the previously usual Italian .
Ionian Islands under French rule (1807-1815)
In 1807 Russia ceded the Ionian Islands to Napoleon I in the Peace of Tilsit . The French repealed the 1803 constitution and transferred the administration to General François-Xavier Donzelot as military governor. The Principe Count Komuto resigned from office. The former Ionian Republic now officially traded as "gouvernement local de Corfou". On October 2nd, 1809, the French fleet was defeated off the island of Zakynthos . The islands of Kefalonia , Kythira and Zakynthos were occupied by Great Britain , who set up a provisional government of the republic on Zakynthos. The French were only able to assert themselves in Corfu. General Donzelot only surrendered after the fall of Napoleon (see Treaty of Fontainebleau ) in July 1814 and handed over the fortress of Corfu to the British.
United States of the Ionian Islands (1815–1863/64)
In the Paris Treaty of November 5, 1815, Great Britain, Russia , Prussia and Austria agreed that the Ionian Islands should form “a single, free and independent state under the name of the United States of the Seven Islands”. The new state was given internal autonomy , but was subject to the protectorate of Great Britain, which was represented by a "Lord High Commissioner" in Corfu. Count Theotokis was again President of the Senate of the Republic, and the British Lord High Commissioner Lieutenant General Thomas Maitland took office in February 1816.
On August 26, 1817, the British Prince Regent George granted the new state a constitution. The state name was then United States of the Ionian Islands . At the head of the state was the Senate, which consists of a president and five other members. The legislature was formed by the 40-member Ionian Parliament known as the “Legislative Assembly” . The highest court was the "Supreme Judicial Council of the United States of the Ionian Islands". Leading state offices could only be filled with the consent of the British Lord High Commissioner, who was also responsible for all the military on the islands. In 1826/1827 the republic received the so-called Ionian Academy as a university based in Corfu. In 1849 a radical constitutional reform took place. The right to vote was extended to four times the number of previous voters, and the election of municipal officials was completely free. At the same time, unlimited freedom of the press was granted.
From 1830 the islands wanted to be incorporated into Greece. Since the elections in 1850, the parliamentary majority was in favor of joining Greece. It was not until 1862, however, that the British protecting power declared their readiness to allow the islands to be united with Greece. On October 1, 1863, Lord High Commissioner Storcks introduced a corresponding bill to the Ionian Legislative Assembly. However, since no agreement was reached on the razing of the Corfu fortress, which the British demanded , the matter was initially delayed. It was not until the treaty of Great Britain, Russia and Austria with Greece of March 29, 1864 that the union of the Ionian Islands with Greece was actually agreed. At the end of May 1864, Lord High Commissioner Storcks handed over the power of government to a Greek representative and dissolved the Ionian Parliament, at the same time the constitution of the Ionian Islands also expired. Since then, the islands have been part of Greece as the administrative region of the Ionian Islands , but without the island of Kythira , which was added to the prefecture of Piraeus .
List of British High Commissioners
The following commissioners ruled between 1815 and 1864:
- Sir Thomas Maitland (1815-1823)
- Sir Frederick Adam (1823-1832)
- Lord Nugent (1832-1835)
- Howard Douglas (1835-1840)
- James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie (1840–1843)
- Lord Seaton (1843-1849)
- Sir Henry George Ward (1849–1855)
- Sir John Young (1855-1859)
- Sir Henry Knight Storks (1859-1863)
literature
- Constitutional Chart of the United States of the Ionian Islands . Ratified August 26th, 1817. London [1817]
- Johann Ferdinand Neigebaur : The constitution of the Ionian Islands and the latest efforts to bring about a reform of the same . Verlag Carl Focke, Leipzig 1839 (under Google Books)
- Thomas W. Gallant: Experiencing dominion. Culture, identity, and power in the British Mediterranean . University Press, Notre Dame, IN 2002, ISBN 0-268-02801-X .
- Sakis Gekas: Business Culture and Entrepreneurship in the Ionian Islands under British Rule, 1815–1864 (= Working papers in economic history , 89). London School of Economics, London 2005.
- Chryssa A. Maltezou: Venezia e le isole Ionie . IVSLA, Venice 2005, ISBN 88-88143-47-5 .
- Diana Siebert: All gentlemen outposts. Corfu from 1797 to 1944 . Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-052502-5 .
- W. David Wrigley: The diplomatic significance of Ionian neutrality during the era of the Greek revolution, 1821-31 (= American University Series / 9, Volume 41). Lang, New York 1988, ISBN 0-8204-0696-1 (also dissertation, Oxford University 1984).