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First Meeting Between Modern Greece and the French Revolution
Troops led by General Gentilly arrive from Venice to occupy the island of Corfu. General Buonaparte's desciption of the event notes a local religous leader's declaration: "Frenchman, on this island you will find a people ignorant in the sciences and arts in which most nations distinguish themselves. But do not despise it on that account. It can still become what it once was: by reading
this book [Homer's Odyssey], learn to respect it." (Vidal-Naquant 161) -
Napoleon's views on the strategic importance of Corfu, expressed in a letter
"I think that henceforth the chief maxim of the French Republic should be never to give up Corfu, Zante, etc. [...] In this way we will find resources for our commerce, which would be of great significance to us, and to the future course of events in Europe." -
Treaty of Campo Formio
Marking Napoleon Bonaparte's victory over the Republic of Venice, this treaty shared former Venetian territories between France and Austria. The Ionian Islands were ceded to France. -
Period: to
Strategic importance diminishes (early 19th century)
In the early 19th Century, the changing nature of naval warfare and the advent of the steamship meant that the Corfu was less important strategically. The British now used Malta as their primary base of operations in the Mediterranean. -
Footnote to Poet Waller Rodwell Wright's "Horae Ionicae"
"It is impossible for any one, who traverses the shores of the old harbour with the 'Odyssey' in his recollection, to doubt the personal acquaintance of Homer with the scenery of Corfu, or to hesitate in assigning the garden of Alcinous to the spot here described" -
Treaty of Paris
After the end of French occupation, the Ionian Islands become a protectorate of the United Kingdom as the 'United States of the Ionian Isles'. -
Tertius Kendrick's "The Ionian Islands" discusses Corfiot women
"In vain might a person search for a Corfuoite lady, whose mind is chastened by ornamental and useful acquirements--whose charms in discourse would give solidity to virtue, and grace to the common relations of human life." -
Private William Wheeler, a British soldier, remarks in a letter regarding the baking practices of Corfiot Natives
"I was astonished to see five straping fellows as naked as they came into the world, their nasty greacy pelts as yellow as saffron, the sweat running down their bodies [...] These dirty Devils were dancing in a long kneading trough, they held on with their hands to something over their heads while the master was scraping a jig out of a miserable old fiddle." -
Edward Giffard contrasts Corfu and Zakynthos
In 'A Short Visit to the Ionian Islands, Athens, and the Morea', he claims that the island of Zakynthos is "immeasurably inferior to Corfu in both beauty and grandeur...Here are no dark woods, deep ravines, or craggy mountains--those indispensable ingredients in a picturesque landscape." -
Jervis-White Jervis' "History of the Island of Corfu" dismisses claims that Corfu played an influential role in Ancient Greece
"Yet, in what did Corcyra conduce to this influence? In what science or art did she shine?" -
The United States of the Ionian Islands ceded to Greece
Following the 1832 achievement of Greek Independence, the United Kingdom ceded The United States of the Ionian Islands to Greece under the Treaty of London, -
William Miller descibes Corfiot character in 'Greek Life in Town and Country'
"The Corfiotes, and the Ionians generally, resemble Italians more than the Greeks in many ways. They cling to their Venetian titles, they have more aristocratic ideas and more Western polish, and they are not regarded with universal favour by the men of 'old' Greece, who apply uncomplimentary names to them." -
Serbian troops take refuge on Corfu
However, dispite the nickname of the "Island of Salvation", these troops suffered greatly due to inadequate food or shelter. -
Italian forces bombard and occupy Corfu
An escalation of the Corfu Incident, in which Italian general Enrico Tellini was assassinated along with three of his assistants on August 27th. -
William Miller discusses Corfu in his "Greece"
"Corfu has been blessed with the fruits of the earth and the beauties of nature since the time when Homer placed there the marvellous gardens of Alkinoos, yet in few parts of Greece does such general poverty prevail" -
Henry Miller's impression of Corfu in 'The Colossus of Maroussi'
"I never got to like the town of Corfu. It has a desultory air which by evening becomes a quiet, irritating sort of dementia. You are constantly drinking something you don't want to drink or else walking up and down aimlessly feeling desperately like a prisoner... Corfu is a typical place of exile." -
Louis Golding remarks on a Corfiot youth playing cricket
"'Cricket!' we were both constrained to cry out, for we had not yet heard of its association with the island. We turned our heads at once to the Residency of the High Commissioners. It was clear they has left as a legacy to the island, as well as that very English building, the most English of games." (Golding 168) -
Corfu Airport becomes International
A 1972 article by Nicolas Tomalin for 'The Sunday Times' amends a desciption of the first large jet full of tourists arriving with: "Corfu must now be readily accessible to all the tourist-producing nations of northern Europe. Within five or ten years it will be swamped." -
Gerald Durrell reflects on the impacts of tourism in a Sunday Times article
"Going back to Kerkyra recently was like paying a visit to the most beautiful woman in the world suffering from an acute and probably terminal case of leprocy--commonly called tourism... The people of Corfu were blessed with a magnificent, magical inheritance, an island of staggering beauty, probably one of the most beautiful islands in the whole of the Mediterranean. What they have done with it is vandalism beyond belief." -
European Council Meeting on Corfu
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Patricia Storace's account of Corfu in 'Dinner with Persephone'
"We take an ugly road out of Corfu town, past rows of cheap beach hotels and supermarkets flanked by white plastic versions of classical sculpture and billboard cut-outs of slim-waisted Minoan frescoes. Next to a half-finished building, amid a pile of iron and concrete rubble, a man turns a lamb on a spit. A wall near him is covered with sprawling graffiti... After fifteen or twenty minutes, the coast becomes the recognizable jewel-like coast whose beauty was perhaps, in the end, a fatal gift" -
Napoleon Bonaparte expresses his views on the value of Corfu in a letter
"I think that henceforth the chief maxim of the French Republic should be never to give up Corfu, Zante, etc. [...] In this way we will find resources for our commerce, which would be of great significance to us, and to the future course of events in Europe." -
The Old town of Corfu designated a UNESCO world heritage site
"As a fortified Mediterranean port, Corfu’s urban and port ensemble is notable for its high level of integrity and authenticity" -
Helena Smith reports in the 'Guardian' on mounting unrest in Corfu
"The island's infrastructure had deteriorated through years of neglect. Its road network--originally built by the British and seen as a feat of engineering--had become pot-holed death traps with more tourists dying on them every year."
