HISTORY OF CORFU

Following the signing of the treaty of Tilsit between France and Russia in July 1806, the Ionian Islands were returned to France. August of the same year, the French army under General Bertier occupied Corfu, abolished the constitution and the autonomy of the Ionian State and proclaimed the islands French provinces.

Bertier’s replacement, General Donzelors, maintained the congress that elected Emmanuel Theotokis as its chairman. However Congress’s decisions could not be executed without the agreement of the Imperial Commissar.

This time French rule had nothing in common with the previous one. Donzelors behaved in a friendly manner towards the Corfiots and for this reason he was liked. He maintained the forts, adding new fortifications. He built new barracks (the present Liston buildings) and fortified Vidos Island. He improved agriculture through the importation of new crops such as potatoes, tomatoes and different greens.

Finally with the new series of measures, he tried to improve life in Corfu town.

EDUCATION – THE IONIAN ACADEMY

During the period of the new French occupation, a great effort for the spreading of education was made.

A year after the settlement of the French in Corfu, a team of Corfiot intellectuals in cooperation with French officers, decided on the foundation of a scientific institute, named the Ionian Academy. Following a proposal to the French state by Donzelors, the Ionian Academy was officially recognised and established three faculties: Physics/Mathematics, Moralities, and Literature and the Arts. This was an act of insignificance for the population as a whole, but contributed enormously to the promotion of the area at a European level.

THE BRITISH 1814 – 1864

At this time Europe was involved in the Napoleonic wars, but with the defeat of Napoleon, different claims were made on the Ionian Islands. It was proposed at a congress in Vienna that they be placed under Austrian rule. However, thanks to the intervention of Count John Capodistrias, the Corfiot-born viceroy of the Russian Tsar, this was not accepted and a more favorable solution was arrived at.

In 1815, a treaty was finally signed in Paris between representatives of Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia, by which it was determined that the Ionian Islands would form a free and independent state, which would, however, come under the immediate and exclusive protection of Great Britain.

Capodistrias had hopes that this independent Greek State would later form the nucleus for the liberation and revival of the entire Greek nation.

The peculiar British ‘protection’ of the so-called ‘United States of the Ionian Islands’ foresaw a military occupation of the islands, approval of the form of government by the British Government and the appointment of a Lord High Commissioner, who would represent the King.

The first such Commissioner, appointed in 1816, was Sir Thomas Maitland. However, his harsh and oppressive administration caused protest among the islanders and the formation of secret patriotic cells to coordinate resistance. These were later to prove very useful during the Greek War of Independence.

However, Maitland’s term ended with his death in 1824 and the sentiments of the locals towards the British for the remaining period of their protection, depended to a large extent on the attitude and personality of the High Commissioner. Those like Major General Frederick Adam and Lord Nugent, ruled more humanely and managed to introduce administrative measures which favoured the Corfiots and other Ionian islanders.

In general the period of British rule was positive and productive. Favourable measures were taken for the economy, which was fundamentally agricultural, but with a development of trade, crafts and the arts. The geographical position of the capital of the new Ionian State, between the flourishing Italian State and the ports of the eastern Mediterranean made it an important transit trade centre, a development helped by the fact that there were no tariff barriers.

Another area that benefited from new measures was public education with the functioning of many new schools in the villages of the island and the reestablishment of the Ionian Academy in 1824 as a full university (with departments of theology, law, medicine and literature and later, pharmaceutical and technical schools). It trained many of the men who ruled the Greek State or were prominent in the arts and letters. It was also at this time that Greek was established for the first time as an official language.

A lot of construction was undertaken during this period, such as the aqueduct which was built to bring water to the town, an extensive road network and many new public buildings. Maitland left Corfu with its earliest neo-classical building, the Palace of Sts George and Michael and the Rotunda built in his honour on the Esplanade.

The last British Commissioner was Sir Henry Storks in 1859 by which time the Corfiots were engaged in a struggle for union with Greece.

Despite their relatively short period of influence, the English have left the island with a few particularly un-Greek momentos, such as the very visible cricket pitch in the middle of the Esplanade and the ‘Corfiot’ drink of ‘tzitzibira’ (gingerbeer).