Corfu Facts and Trivia

[Steve]

Treaty of London 1864.

The Treaty of London ceded the United States of the Ionian Islands to Greece. (Great Britain had governed the islands as a protectorate since the 1815 Treaty of Paris.) The federated United States of the Ionian Islands was made up of Corfu, Ithaca, Paxos, Cephalonia, Zante (Zakinthos), and Santa Maura (Lefkas) and Cerigo (Kythera). Ever since Greece had achieved independence in 1832, the people of the Ionian islands had resented foreign rule. At a Cabinet meeting in 1862, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, decided to cede the islands to Greece. This policy was also favoured by Queen Victoria. The practical reasoning was that maintenance of ownership in the area was too expensive. Besides, the islands did not have great strategic importance and the United Kingdom could still maintain a strategic presence in the Mediterranean from the island of Malta. After long negotiations with Greece, the Treaty of London was signed by Greek delegate Charilaos Trikoupis on March 29, 1864. On May 2, 1864 the British departed and the Ionian islands became three provinces of the Kingdom of Greece, although Britain retained use of the port on Corfu. This was the first example of voluntary decolonisation by Britain.

Stevie, 

[Steve]

The Four Gates of Corfu

Built during the Venetian occupation of Corfu, four main gates gave access to the city. Two of the gates can still be seen today. The first, Porta Spilia, faces the old port and is known as the Bonati Arch. The second, Porta San Nicolo, is on the northern side of the Esplanade at the base of the walls below the level of the coastal road. The other two gates were destroyed during various rebuilding projects. Porta Raimonda was on the southern side of the Esplanade, in the district of the same name, and led to Garitsa. It was pulled down in the 19th century. The fourth gate, Porta Reale, shared the same fate. It stood in G. Theotoki Street, next to what is now Marks and Spencers.

Stevie, 

[Steve]

Maltese Corfiots.

A large community of descendants of Maltese Italians is still present in Corfu. Their ancestors came to the island during the 19th century, when the British authorities brought many skilled workers from Malta to the Ionian Islands. The British needed married men so that their work would be continued by their children, and as a consequence 80 people (40 families from 1815 until 1860) were transported to Corfu and their descendants remain there till today. In 1901, there were almost one thousand people in Corfu who considered themselves as ethnic Maltese. Maltese emigration to Corfu practically ceased when it was returned to Greece in 1864. Two villages in Corfu bear names testifying to Maltese presence: Maltezika is named after Malta and Cozzella got its name from Gozo. In Cozzella the Franciscan Sisters of Malta opened a convent and a school in 1907. Those two institutions still flourish. The Corfiot Maltese community currently numbers 3,500 people in the entire island. They constitute the center of the Catholic community of Corfu, but no one among them speaks the Maltese language anymore.

Stevie, 

[Steve]

The Italian Occupation of Corfu in 1923
 
For almost a month in 1923 Corfu was occupied by Italian forces. The occupation came about as a result of the murder on the morning of August 27, 1923, of General Enrico Tellini and three officers of the Italian border commission on the Greek-Albanian border. Italy made an announcement demanding within 24 hours the following concessions: an official apology by the Greek government; the commemoration of the dead in the Catholic Church of Athens, with all the members of the Greek government in attendance; the rendering of honours to the Italian flag and the Italian naval squadron anchored in Faliro; an investigation of the murders by the Greek authorities in conjunction with the Italian military; the death penalty for those found guilty; the payment of 50 million Italian lire within 5 days by the Greek government; and finally, that the dead should be honored with military honours in Preveza. The Greek government responded accepting only the first three and the last of these demands. Using this as a pretext, the Italian Army suddenly attacked Corfu on August 31, 1923. The Italian commander ordered the Prefect of Corfu to surrender the island. The Prefect refused and the Italians warned him that their forces would attack at 17:00 if the Corfiots refused to raise the white flag in the fortress. Seven thousand refugees, 300 orphans plus the military hospital were lodged in the Old Fortress, as well as the School of Police in the New Fortress. At 17:05 the Italians bombarded Corfu for 20 minutes. There were victims among the refugees of the old Fortress and the Prefect ordered the raising of the white flag. The Italians besieged the island and sent their forces ashore. They declared that their occupation would be permanent. They requisitioned houses and censored the newspapers. Greece asked for the intervention of the League of Nations, of which both Greece and Italy were members, and demanded the solution of the problem through arbitration. The Italian government of Benito Mussolini refused, declaring that Corfu would remain occupied until the acceptance of the Italian terms. On September 7, 1923, the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris agreed the withdrawl of the Italian forces from Corfu. This finally began on September 20, 1923 and ended on the 27th of the same month.

Stevie, 

[Steve]

The Corfu Reading Society

The Corfu Reading Society is the oldest intellectual institution of Greece. It was founded as a "Literary Club" in 1836 by foreign university graduates. The main objective was for its members to come into contact with the political, scientific and intellectual activities of western Europe during that period. The first president was the important philosopher, politician, diplomat and professor of the Ionian Academy Petros Brailas-Armenis. The Reading Society was instrumental in the establishment of a free press as well as the imposition of Greek as an official language in the Ionian islands and its library has a priceless collection of 10.000 books, newspapers, booklets, old maps, engravings and photographs. The Reading Society is housed in a building designed by the renowned architect Ioannis Chronis and is considered one of the most characteristic in Corfu Town.

Stevie, 

[Steve]

The First Bank in Greece

The Ionian State Bank was established in 1839, to finance trade between the Ionian Islands (a British protectorate) and Great Britain. This makes the bank the oldest in Greece. The bank received a 20-year grant of the exclusive privilege of issuing and circulating banknotes for the Ionian Islands. The bank soon changed its name to Ionian Bank and initially only operated in the Ionian Islands, opening branches in Corfu, Zakynthos and Kefalonia. In 1845, a year after the bank received a UK Royal Charter, it established agencies in Athens and Patras, and appointed special agents in Venice and Trieste. In 1864, the Ionian Islands united with Greece and Ionian Bank converted its agencies in Athens and Patras to full branches. It then extended its operations to the rest of Greece. The Athens office took over as Head Office from the Corfu office in 1873. By 1880, the bank lost its legal monopoly position in the Islands, but gained an extension to its (no longer exclusive) right of note issue. In 1883, the bank gave up its Royal Charter and registered as a limited liability company.

Stevie, 

[Steve]

The Ionian Academy.

Corfu is the home of the first University of Greece, the Ionian Academy, which was founded in 1824 and upheld and strengthened the tradition of Greek Education while the rest of Greece was still fighting against the Turkish occupation.

Stevie, 

[jan]

sorting out my old photos (a marathon task!) I have come across two labelled The evacuation of the Italian army 1923......and later on 2 photos of the first Greeks allowed to return home in the 1950s (after leaving voluntarily or being taken to Albania and other Communist countries in the civil war).  They are kneeling down and kissing the ground.

[Trisa]

Jan are you sorting and scanning all your photos?

Trisa

[jan]

I was afraid someone would ask me that!  I haven't got a scanner but I am meeting someone from the Old Corfu photos website next week and he says he can help.

[Trisa]

I only ask as Bob inherited a suitcase full of old family photos and he has scanned each and every one of them so that they don't deteriorate any further.

It was a mammoth task!

Trisa

[Steve]

It would be good to have a History Photo Gallery.

Stevie,