The Ionian State: Community, Economy and Institutions

Author: Dimitrios Zerdes (Student of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)

The Ionian Islands constitute a special case in Greek history. In contrast to the rest of the Greek territory, the Ionian Islands were under the rule of the Most Serene Republic of Venice from as early as the mid-14th century. Their occupation by the Venetians ended in 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio, which was signed between France and Austria after Napoleon’s victorious advance in Italy. Among other provisions, the treaty stipulated that the Most Serene Republic of Venice would cease to exist in its current form. The city of Venice would retain a degree of autonomy, while ceding most of its territories. Thus, the Ionian Islands came under French control, marking the beginning of the First French Rule in the Ionian Islands (1797–1799).

The future proved difficult for the Ionian Islanders, who saw their homeland constantly changing regimes within an exceptionally short period of time. The attacks of the Russians and the Ottomans forced the French to withdraw, which in 1800 led to the creation of the Septinsular Republic (1800–1807). The French presence returned with the Treaties of Tilsit (1807), between France and the Russian Empire, after France’s victory over the Russians in Eastern Prussia. Control of the islands passed once again to the French, thus inaugurating the Second French Rule in the Ionian Islands. This second French presence would very soon begin to collapse, when in 1809 the British started to occupy the islands. The French gradually retreated, and finally, on 17 November 1815, with the Treaty of Paris, the Ionian Islands came under British control as a protectorate of the British Crown, thereby creating the United States of the Ionian Islands, commonly known as the Ionian State.

As for the administration of the new state, at its head would be the Lord High Commissioner, who would reside in Corfu and whose first mission would be to convene a legislative body and ultimately to draft a Constitution. The first High Commissioner appointed was Thomas Maitland, who had previously served as Governor of Malta. Maitland proved to be particularly authoritarian, imposing his positions and significantly restricting any form of liberal opposition. The first Constitution was issued in 1817 and came into force the following year, even though Maitland’s suffocating control was gradually transforming the British “protection” into suzerainty.

At the economic level, it had remained mostly agricultural, just as it had been in the Venetian era. The Industrial Revolution, which had already begun to take place from the middle of the previous century, as well as its effects, had not yet penetrated the region of the Ionian Islands, where feudal structures still prevailed. The concentration of land in the hands of a few created an upper social class, the “lords,” as they were known to their compatriots. These, along with prominent merchants and old noble families, possessed power and wealth and controlled public administration at the level of citizens, always in close cooperation with the High Commissioner. Their support for the British administration was taken for granted, as the interests of the two sides were similar. Both sought, each for its own purposes, to maintain relations of dependency with the citizens. The situation became unbearable for the popular classes, especially for the peasants, who, in addition to high taxation, had to face external economic pressures on their main export commodity, currants. In the years following the establishment of the first Greek state, the Peloponnese began to heal the wounds left by Ibrahim. Thus, by the 1840s, currant production had been restored, resulting in great pressure on the Ionian economy, and particularly on Kefalonia, which now faced strong competition. At the same time, this decade saw an increase in usury. Yet although usury constituted an irregular system of granting loans, the “official” lending process was no less financially painful. The Ionian Bank, based in Corfu, lent at an interest rate of 9%, something extremely unfavorable for the citizens, whose pleas and protests went unheard.

All these were symptoms of a dynastic administration, which many were able to identify, but few to judge. Those who did belonged to the middle class, descendants of entrepreneurs and seafarers. Thus, the middle class became the fiercest critic of British rule, at a time when popular anger was flaring up.

Intellectual life in the Ionian region was undergoing drastic changes, corresponding to the underlying social transformations. What was already happening in the West—the coexistence of classical and romantic elements in education, with an emphasis on antiquity—was gradually penetrating the Ionian Islands. Young people who had travelled to Europe, especially Western Europe for their studies, were now returning to their homeland, becoming not only carriers of the “new education” and liberal values, but also recalling moments of revolution, such as in France in 1830 and in Italy in 1831. Gradually, the Radical movement was formed, whose ultimate goal was the liberation of the Ionian Islands and their union with Greece. Key representatives of the movement emerged as Gerasimos Livadas, Ilias Zervos, Iosif Momferratos and others. The conditions now indicated that the beginning of an armed uprising was “at the gates”. 

Βιβλιογραφία: 

-ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΕΘΝΟΥΣ (Νεώτερος Ελληνισμός από 1833 ως 1881) – ΕΚΔΟΤΙΚΗ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ

-ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ (Νεώτερος Ελληνισμός, 1827-1862) – ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΔΟΜΗ

-ΝΕΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ (Από το 1204 έως τις αρχές του 21ου αιώνα) – Απόστολος Ε. Βακαλόπουλος – ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΗΡΟΔΟΤΟΣ

-ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΚΗΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΗΣ 1740-1918 (Αυτοκρατορίες, έθνη και εκσυγχρονισμός) –Ian D. Armour– ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΕΠΙΚΕΝΤΡΟ

Οπτικό Υλικό:

https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%97%CE%BD%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%BD_%CE%9A%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82_%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD_%CE%99%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BD_%CE%9D%CE%AE%CF%83%CF%89%CE%BD#/media/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF:SeptinsularRepublic1801.jpg

https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%99%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CE%9B%CE%B1%CF%8A%CE%BA%CE%AE_%CE%A4%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%80%CE%B5%CE%B6%CE%B1#/media/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF:Laiki_Trapeza.JPG