Everything about The Septinsular Republic totally explained
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.
The seven islands constituting the Republic were:
Background
By the late 18th century, the Ionian Islands had been under
Venetian authority for centuries. With the
Treaty of Loeben (
18 April 1797, the
French Republic gained the islands, a move finalised with the 1797
Treaty of Campo Formio, which formerly abolished the Venetian state. They 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 proceeding to enstrengthening the defences of Corfu. In the end of the 18th century, the latter was the storngest 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.
The Septinsular Republic
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. Political power was exercised more by murder and vendetta than through the Senate. 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 didn't 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, and incorporated in the
Illyrian provinces.
H. Jervis-White Jervis 1852 reprinted 1970
History of the Island of Corfu and the Republic of the Ionian Islands
Aftermath
In
1809-
1810, the British took all the islands except Corfu, where a French garrison persisted until
1814. In the
Treaty of Paris (
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 incorporated in the
Kingdom of Greece.
Further Information
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