Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands Ixołe Jonie (Venetian) Ἰόνιοι Νῆσοι (Greek) Iónioi Nísoi (Latin Greek)
Colony of the Republic of Venice
1363–1797
The Ionian Islands in green. Map of 1785, when the Islands were still part of the Venetian Republic.
Capital	Corfu
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Fourth Crusade	1202–1204
• Established1	1363
• First Ottoman–Venetian War	1463–1479
• Second Ottoman–Venetian War	1499–1503
• Treaty of Passarowitz	1718
• Invasion of Venice	1792– 1797
• Treaty of Campo Formio	17 October 1797
Preceded by Succeeded by County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos First period of French rule in the Ionian Islands
Today part of	Greece
1 Each island became part of the Venetian empire in different dates. 1363 refers to Cythera and Anticythera.

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The Ionian Islands were an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. The conquest of the islands took place gradually. The first to be acquired was Cythera and the neighboring islet of Anticythera, indirectly in 1238 and directly after 1363. In 1386 the Council of Corfu, which was the governing body of the island, voted to make Corfu a vassal of Venice. During the Venetian period the Council remained the most powerful institution on the island. A century later, Venice captured Zante in 1485, Cephalonia in 1500 and Ithaca in 1503. These three islands modelled their administration on Corfu's model and formed their own councils. The conquest was completed in 1718 with the capture of Lefkada. Each of the islands remained part of the Venetian Stato da Màr until Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Republic of Venice in 1797. The Ionian Islands are situated in the Ionian Sea, off the west coast of Greece. Cythera, the southernmost, is just off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and Corfu, the northernmost, is located at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea. It is believed that the Venetian period on the Ionian Islands was generally prosperous, especially compared with the coinciding Tourkokratia — Turkish rule over the remainder of present-day Greece.^[1]

The governor of the Ionian Islands during the Venetian period was the Provveditore generale da Mar, who resided on Corfu. Additionally, each island's authorities were divided into the Venetian and the domestic authorities. The economy of the islands was based on exporting local goods, primarily raisins, olive oil and wine, whereas Venetian lira, the currency of Venice, was also the currency of the islands. Some features of the culture of Venice were incorporated in the culture of the Ionian Islands, thus influencing to this day local music, cuisine and language.