Septinsular Republic

Native name	Επτάνησος Πολιτεία (el)Eptánisos PolitíaRepubblica Settinsulare (it)
Conventional long name	Septinsular Republic
Common name	Septinsular Republic
|continent	Europe
Region	Balkans
Country	Greece
Empire	Russia; Ottoman; French
Status	Protectorate
Status text	Protectorate of Russia and Turkey (to 1807)Protectorate of the French Empire (thereafter)
Era	19th century
Today
|image flag	Flag of the Septinsular Republic.svg
Symbol type	Emblem of the Septinsular Republic
Image coat	Septinsular republic flag1800-1807.jpg
Image map caption	The Republic's territory extended to the seven main islands plus the smaller islets of the Ionian Sea
|year start	1800
Year end	1815
|event pre	Russian/Ottoman occupation
Date pre	1798
Event start	Established
Date start	April 2
Event1	1st constitution
Date event1	1800
Event2	2nd constitution
Date event2	23 December 1803
Event3	3rd constitution
Date event3	1806 (not implemented)
Event4	Ceded to France
Date event4	7 July 1807
Event5	Corfu occupied by Britain
Date event5	24 June 1814
Event end	British Protectorate
Date end	5 November
|p1	French First Republic
Flag p1	Flag of France.svg
S1	United States of the Ionian Islands
Flag s1	Flag of the United States of the Ionian Islands.svg
|capital	Corfu
Religion	Eastern Orthodox ChurchRoman Catholic ChurchJudaism
Currency	Septinsular gazeta
|common languages	Official languages:Greek (from 1803)ItalianUnofficial minority languages:Italkian, Venetian, Yevanic
|government type	Aristocratic republic
Title deputy	Prince
Deputy1	Count
Year deputy1	1800–02 (first)
|legislature	Parliament
House1	Senate (Senato, Γερουσία)
House2	Legislative Assembly (Corpo Legislativo, Νομοθετικό Σώμα)
|footnotes	1: Formally under Ottoman suzerainty; under the de facto protection of the Russian Empire 2: According to the 1803 Constitution the President of the Senate gets the title of the Prince (Principo, Πρίγκηψ) and he is head of state.3: Sazan Island (Saseno, Σάσων) is now a part of Albania.

) in the beginning of the 19th century]] The Septinsular Republic (, ) was an island republic that existed from 1800 to 1807 under nominal Ottoman 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. Whilst a part of the First French Empire, the republic was known in French as or .

The seven islands constituting the Republic were:

Kerkyra (Corfu)

Paxi (Paxos)

Lefkada (Leucada/Santa Maura)

Kefalonia (Cefalonia)

Ithaki (Ithaca)

Zakynthos (Zante)

Kythira (Cythera/Cerigo)

Background

By the late 18th century, the Ionian Islands had been under Venetian authority for centuries. With the Treaty of Leoben (18 April 1797), the French Republic gained the islands, a move finalised with the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio, which formally abolished the Venetian state.

The islands now formed part of the départements Mer-Égée, Ithaque and Corcyre. The arrival of the French sparked great enthusiasm among the islands' inhabitants, and was marked by acts such as the burning of the Libro d'Oro, the abolition of aristocratic privileges and the adoption of the French Constitution of 1795.

The French then proceeded to strengthen the defences of Corfu. By the end of the 18th century, it was the strongest fort in Europe, with more than a thousand French cannons placed on the walls.

Soon however, and despite several progressive measures adopted by the French administration, the population was alienated due to heavy taxation and the undisciplined behaviour of French soldiers. This discontent was used by a joint Russo-Ottoman force under Admiral Ushakov to evict the French from the islands.

In March 1799, the city of Corfu fell after a four-month siege, ending French rule. This was the beginning of the Septinsular Republic.

Administration

In 1800, the so-called "Byzantine" Constitution was approved in Constantinople by the Sultan, establishing the Septinsular Republic as a tributary state to the Ottoman Empire. The Winged Lion of St. Mark on its flag indicated that it was supposed to be a successor state to the Venetian Republic, recently abolished by Napoleon. In fact, political power was exercised more by murder and vendetta than through the Senate.

The Republic according to the first article of the constitution is "one and aristocratic" — original text:

The Republic existed practically as a Russian protectorate largely because the population saw the Russians as their Orthodox co-religionists. The political experience of administering the Republic was hugely important for the young Ioannis Kapodistrias, who thereby attracted Russian patronage, and would later became the first president of an independent Greece. Jervis gives a copy of the constitution (presumably the second) in his book. The franchise was restricted to males of legitimate Christian birth on the islands, who did not keep a shop or practise any mechanical art and could read and write. They also required a minimum yearly income which varied between the islands from 1800 ducats on Corfu to 315 ducats on Ithaca. People with the franchise are normally referred to as nobles but this term probably exaggerates their wealth.

In secret articles of the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, they were ceded by Russia to Napoleon's French Empire, an expeditionary force led by general taking control of the islands in August 1807. Unlike their Adriatic neighbour the Illyrian provinces, the Seven Islands were not annexed by France, keeping their institutions of government and the Ionian Senate, under the occupation of French forces led by Governors General Berthier and, after March 1808, .

Languages

The official language was at first the Italian language and then in 1803 Greek became, along with Italian, one of the two official languages of the republic. During the Venetian period, Italian was used for official purposes in the islands but it was also widely spoken in the cities, whereas in the countryside people continue to speak Greek. The only island in which Italian (Venetian) had a wider spread was Cefalonia, where a greater number of people had adopted Venetian as their first language.

The constitution of the Septinsular Republic was printed in Greek by the patriarchal press in Constantinople, using many loanwords from Italian for technical terms. However, the new constitution approved in 1803 was drafted in Italian. The text of the constitution is prefaced by the report of the committee that drafted it, which states that: "the noble, rich and harmonious Hellenic dialect, having been exiled by the Venetians, should be recalled to the dominion and become the language of administration and the interpreter of the active citizens." This issue was considered to be so important that it was even given a separate article (Art. 211) in the constitution. According to the article Greek shall replace Italian as the working language in public acts by the year 1820.

Even these days, on these islands, people speak a "dialect" (it's called an "idiom" by Greek scholars because of the small difference with Greek) strongly influenced by the Italian (Venetian) language. Many words but also the accent are different from the Greek Koine. In addition to that, according to the statistics of the Greek Ministry of Education, Italian, which was introduced to Greek schools in 2008, was chosen as a second foreign language mainly in the Ionian Islands.

Religion

Most of the people on these islands during this period were Christians, with a small number of Jews on Corfu, Zante and even smaller on Cefalonia. The majority were Eastern Orthodox. However, there was a significant number of Catholics, especially on Corfu, Zante and Cefalonia. The Constitution of 1803, recognises the Orthodoxy as the dominant denomination; it also states that the Roman Catholic denomination is recognised and protected. The Constitution also provides for the enactment of a law defining the privileges of the Jews residing in the State.

Today, the population totals 261,930, the vast majority belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church. The remainder includes 6,615 Roman Catholics, a few thousand Jews, a number of Protestants (largely Baptists and Anglicans —many Britons live on the islands) and a small number of Muslim immigrants.

Aftermath

In 1809–10, the British took all the islands except Corfu, where a French garrison persisted until 1814. In the Treaty of Paris of November 5, 1815, the islands were formed into the "United States of the Ionian Islands" under British protection. The colonial government lasted for half a century until 1864, when the islands were gifted to the Kingdom of Greece.

See also

List of Greek countries and regions

Corfiot Italians

Republic of Venice

United States of the Ionian Islands

References and sources

H. Jervis-White Jervis 1852 reprinted 1970 History of the Island of Corfu and the Republic of the Ionian Islands

External links

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

Category:History of modern Greece Category:Ottoman Empire Category:History of the Ionian Islands