Grove Koger

November 5 is the anniversary of the establishment of the United States of the Ionian Islands.

Despite what their name might lead you to think, these United States were actually a British protectorate, and operated for most of their existence—from 1815 to 1864—under the terms of a British-approved Constitution.

There are seven major Ionian Islands scattered down the western coast of Greece, from Corfu (or Kerkyra) in the north, opposite the Greek border with Albania, to Kythira, off the southern tip of mainland Greece. There are also a number of islets, including Antikythira, which lies about 24 miles southeast of Kythira itself.

The Ionian Islands are generally referred to as a group, but given their geography and particularly the great distance between Kythira and the other islands, I think it’s more accurate to think of them as a string. Some sources, including the Ionian Environment Foundation, refer to the six northernmost islands—Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos—as an archipelago. It’s a classification that makes sense, as they lie more or less closely to each other. 

The islands were controlled by the Republic of Venice from 1363 to 1797, by France for a few subsequent years, by a Russo-Turkish alliance (during which the islands were known as the Septinsular Republic) for a few more years, and by France again for a few more years still. During the early nineteenth century, the British navy defeated the French navy in a number of battles and went on to seize several of the islands, eventually capturing Corfu itself in 1814.

Finally, on November 5, 1815, according to the terms of the Treaty between Great Britain and Russia, Respecting the Ionian Islands, a British protectorate—the United States of the Ionian Islands—was established. (If you’re paying attention to the broader picture, the treaty was one of several signed during the 1815 Peace of Paris.) A constitution providing for a locally elected Parliament that would advise a British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands went into effect a little less than two years later.

Britain instituted a number of welcome reforms, including freedom of the press and the use of modern Greek in all public and legal proceedings. An Ionian University was established, along with Greece’s first botanical garden. The British also introduced cricket, tsitsibira (lemon-flavored ginger beer), and postage stamps. Once mainland Greece established its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830, however, sentiment for union with Greece naturally grew. After considering the situation for three decades, during which time it resorted to imprisoning and exiling a number of dissidents, Britain gave up its protectorate and ceded the Ionian Islands to Greece on May 21, 1864.

Britain’s decision was largely a strategic one. While it valued Corfu’s wide harbor, that of the island of Malta, which was some two and a half miles long and had been the base of the British Mediterranean fleet since 1827, was even better. In addition, Greece’s newly enthroned king, Danish-born George I, was viewed as sympathetic to British interests.

The image at the top of today’s post is a photograph of the harbor of Corfu, said to have been taken in 1860. The first map shows a section of the Ottoman Empire as it existed in 1801, with the Septinsular Republic in orange, while the second—a German map published by Georg Joachim Goschen in Leipzig in 1830—shows what had become the United States of the Ionian Islands. The stamp is one of three issued by Britain in 1859. Rather than carrying face values, they were distinguished by color; this one was for 2 pence.

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