Septinsular Republic
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The Septinsular Republic (Greek: Επτάνησος Πολιτεία, Italian: Repubblica Settinsulare) was an island republic that existed from 1800 to 1807 under joint Russian-Turkish sovereignty in the Ionian Islands. It was the first time Greeks had been granted even limited self-government since the fall of the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in the mid-15th century.
[edit] History
By the 15th century, the seven main Ionian Islands (Corfu, Ithaca, Kefallonia, Lefkas, Zakynthos, Kythera), along with the three mainland exclaves of Parga, Preveza and Vonitsa, had been placed under Venetian rule. As such, they were the only Greek-inhabited territories to escape Ottoman occupation.
In 1797, the Treaty of Campo Formio tranferred the sovereignty of the islands from the Venice to the France, which occupied and organized them into départements. Between October 1798 and March 1799 however, a joint Russo-Ottoman force under the Russian Admiral Ushakov, succeeded in gaining control over them. In March 21, 1800 the State of the Seven United Islands (also Septinsular Republic and Ionian State) was proclaimed. The Republic was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman and the protection of the Russian Empires.
In 1807, after the Peace of Tilsit, the islands were re-annexed to the French Empire, as part of the "Illyrian provinces". Between the years 1809 and 1810 most islands were successively liberated by British forces, with the exception of Corfu and Paxi, were the French held out until 1814. In this campaign, the British employed Greek light infantry battalions, where a number of future protagonists of the Greek War of Independence, like Theodoros Kolokotronis, served. On November 5, 1815, the islands were formed as the British protectorate of the United States of the Ionian Islands. They remained under British rule until 1864, when they were incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece.
