Venetian Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands Ixołe Jonie Ἰόνιοι Νῆσοι
Colony of the Republic of Venice
←   ← 1363–1797 →
Flag Coat of arms
The Ionian Islands in green. Map of 1785, when the Islands were still part of the Venetian Republic.
Capital		Corfu
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Fourth Crusade	1202–1204
•	Established1	1363
•	First Ottoman–Venetian War	1463–1479
•	Second Ottoman–Venetian War	1499–1503
•	Treaty of Passarowitz	1718
•	Invasion of Venice	1792– 1797
•	Treaty of Campo Formio	17 October 1797
1 Each island became part of the Empire in different dates. 1363 refers to Cythera and Anticythera.

The Ionian Islands were an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. The conquest of the islands took place gradually. The first to be acquired was Cythera and the neighboring islet of Anticythera, indirectly in 1238 and directly after 1363. In 1386, Corfu voluntarily became part of Venice's colonies. Following a century, Venice captured Zante in 1485, Cephalonia in 1500 and Ithaca in 1503. The conquest was completed in 1718 with the capture of Lefkada. Each of the islands remained part of the Venetian Stato da Màr until Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Republic of Venice in 1797. The Ionian Islands are situated in the Ionian Sea, off the west coast of Greece. Cythera, the southernmost, is just off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and Corfu, the northernmost, is located at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea. In modern Greek, the period of Venetian rule over Greek territory is known as Venetokratia or Enetokratia (Greek: Βενετοκρατία or Ενετοκρατία) and literally means "rule of the Venetians". It is believed that the Venetian period on the Ionian Islands was agreeable, especially compared with the coinciding Tourkokratia — Turkish rule over other parts of present-day Greece.

The governor of the Ionian Islands during the Venetian period was the Provveditore generale da Mar, who resided on Corfu. Additionally, each island's authorities were divided into the Venetian and the domestic authorities. The economy of the islands was based on exporting local goods, primarily raisins, olive oil and wine, whereas Venetian lira, the currency of Venice, was also the currency of the islands. Some features of the culture of Venice were incorporated in the culture of the Ionian Islands, thus influencing to this day local music, cuisine and language. The Italian language, for instance, which was introduced on the islands as the official language and was adopted by the upper class, is still popular today throughout the islands.

...
Wikipedia