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United States of the Ionian Islands

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The United States of the Ionian Islands (Greek:

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, Inomnon-Krtos ton Ionon Nson, literally "United State of the Ionian

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United Kingdom between 1815 and 1864. It was the successor state of the

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Septinsular Republic. It covered the territory of the Ionian Islands, located in modern

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Greece, to whom it was ceded as a gift of the United Kingdom to the newly enthroned
King George I,[5] at the end of the protectorate.

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(el)

Islands" Italian: Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie) was a state and amical protectorate of the

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United States of the Ionian Islands

Inomnon-Krtos ton Ionon Nson

Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie (it)

Amical protectorate of the United Kingdom

18151864

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1 History

Recent changes

2 Languages

Contact page

3 States

Flag

4 Government

Tools

What links here

5 See also

Related changes

6 Footnotes

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7 External links

Special pages
Permanent link
Page information

History

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Prior to the French Revolutionary Wars, the Ionian Islands had been part of the
Republic of Venice. With the dissolution of that polity by the 1797 Treaty of Campo

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Formio, it was annexed into the French Republic, created into the French
departments of Greece. Between 1798 and 1799, the French were driven out by a
joint Russo-Ottoman force. The occupying forces founded the Septinsular Republic,
which enjoyed relative independence under nominal Ottoman suzerainty and Russian
The Republic's territory extended to the seven main
islands plus the smaller islets of the Ionian Sea

control from 1800 until 1807.

The Ionian Islands were then occupied by the French after the treaty of Tilsit. In 1809,

Languages

the United Kingdom defeated the French fleet off the island Zakynthos on 2 October,

and captured Kefalonia, Kythira, and Zakynthos. The British took Lefkada in 1810.

The island of Corfu remained occupied by the French until 1814.

Dansk
Deutsch

The Congress of Vienna agreed to place the Ionian Islands under the exclusive

Eesti

"amical protection" of the United Kingdom. Despite British military administration, the

Austrian Empire was guaranteed commercial status equal to the UK. The

Espaol

arrangement was formalised with the ratification of the "Maitland constitution" on 26

Franais

August 1817, which created a federation of the seven islands, with Lieutenant-

Hrvatski

General Sir Thomas Maitland its first "Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands".

Bahasa Indonesia

On 29 March 1864, representatives of the United Kingdom, Greece, France, and

Italiano

Russia signed the Treaty of London, pledging the transfer of sovereignty to Greece

upon ratification this was meant to bolster the reign of the newly installed King

Latina

Capital

Corf

Languages

Greek
Italian

Religion

Greek Orthodox

Government

Republic

Legislature
Upper house
Lower house

Parliament
Senate
Legislative Assembly

Historical era
Congress of
Vienna
Protectorate est.
Constitution
Treaty of London
Gifted to Greece

19th century

Bahasa Melayu

George I of the Hellenes. Thus, on 28 May, by proclamation of the Lord High

Commissioner, the Ionian Islands were united with Greece.[6]

Area

Nederlands

Languages

Population
1864 est.
Density

9 June 1815 (signed)

9 November 1815
26 August 1817
29 March 1864
28 May 1864

1864

2,659 km (1,027 sq mi)

Norsk bokml
Polski

Srpskohrvatski /

Suomi

[ edit ]

According to the second constitution of the republic (1803), Greek was the primary
official language, in contrast to the situation in the Septinsular Republic.[7] Italian was

236,000
88.8 /km (229.9 /sq mi)

Currency

Obol (181833)
Greek lepton (183364)

still in use, though, mainly for official purposes since the Venetian Republic. The only

Svenska

island in which Italian (Venetian) had a wider spread was Cephalonia, where a great

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number of people had adopted Venetian Italian as their first

States

language.[8]

Today part of

Greece
[1]

References: Capital city languages[2][3] area and

population.[4]

[ edit ]

The United States of the Ionian Islands was a federation. It included seven island states (names given were the official names which
are not necessarily the names used in English, either then or now):
State
Corf
Cephalonia

Capital

Members elected

Corf

Argostoli

Cerigo

Kythira

1 or 2[9]

Ithaca

Vathy

1 or 2[9]

Pax
Santa Maura
Zante

Gaios

1 or 2[9]

Lefkada

Zakynthos

Government

[ edit ]

The government was organised under the direction of a Lord High Commissioner, appointed
by the British monarch on the advice of the British government. In total, ten men served in this
capacity, including William Gladstone as a Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary.
The Ionian Islands had a bicameral legislature, titled the 'Parliament of the United States of
the Ionian Islands' and composed of a Legislative Assembly and a Senate.[10]
Ionian two-oboli coin, 1819

The 1818 constitution also established a High Court of Appeal to be called the Supreme
Council of Justice of the United States of the Ionian Islands, of which the president was to be

known as the Chief Justice who would rank in precedence immediately after the President of the Senate.
Successive Chief Justices were:
John Kirkpatrick 18201835
Sir James John Reid 1837
Sir Charles Sargent 1860
Sir Patrick MacChombaich de Colquhoun 18611864

See also

[ edit ]

Order of St Michael and St George, a British order of chivalry created in honour of the protectorate.
List of Lord High Commissioners of the Ionian Islands
Ionian Islands under Venetian rule
Septinsular Republic
List of Greek countries and regions

Footnotes

[ edit ]

1. ^ Constitution of the Ionian Islands, Article II

2. ^ Constitution of the Ionian Islands, Article IV
3. ^ Constitution of the Ionian Islands, Article V
4. ^ "Treaty of London" . Greek Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original

on 8 March 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2006.

5. ^ The Times (London) 8 June 1863 p. 12 col. C

6. ^ Hertslet, Edward. The map of Europe by treaty
7. ^ http://www.dircost.unito.it/cs/docs/settinsula.htm

(PDF). p. 1609. Retrieved 21 July 2006.

The second constitution of the republic (1803). (Italian)

8. ^ Kendrick, Tertius T. C. (1822). The Ionian islands: Manners and customs . J. Haldane. p. 106. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
9. ^ a

bc

Cerigo, Ithaca, and Paxos each elected one member, but the three elected a second member in rotation. Constitution of the Ionian

Islands, Article VI
10. ^ Constitution of the Ionian Islands, Article VII

External links

[ edit ]

"Constitution of the Ionian Islands" . University of Kassel. Retrieved 21 July 2006.

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to United
States of the Ionian Islands.

The Constitution in Italian

"Territories of the British Empire, History of the Ionian Islands" . David Rumsey Map
Collection. Retrieved 2 July 2014.

Categories: Former republics

Wikisource has original text

related to this article:
Treaty between Great
Britain and Russia, etc.
respecting the Ionian
Islands signed at Paris
5th November 1815.

Former countries in the Balkans

States and territories established in 1815

United States of the Ionian Islands

Former British protectorates

States and territories disestablished in 1864

GreeceUnited Kingdom relations

History of modern Greece

1815 establishments in the British Empire

This page was last modified on 27 January 2016, at 22:02.

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