<P> In the 18th century, a Greek national independence movement began to emerge, and the free status of the Ionian islands made them the natural base for exiled Greek intellectuals, freedom fighters and foreign sympathisers . The islands became more self - consciously Greek as the 19th century, the century of romantic nationalism, neared . </P> <P> In 1797 Napoléon Bonaparte conquered Venice . By the Treaty of Campo Formio the islanders found themselves under French rule, the islands being organised as the départments Mer - Égée, Ithaque and Corcyre . In 1798, the Russian Admiral Ushakov evicted the French, and established the Septinsular Republic under joint Russo - Ottoman protection--the first time Greeks had had even limited self - government since the fall of Constantinople in 1453 . In 1807, the Ionian Islands were ceded again to the French in the Treaty of Tilsit and occupied by the French Empire . </P> <P> In 1809, the British defeated the French fleet in Zakynthos (October 2, 1809) captured Kefallonia, Kythera and Zakynthos, and took Lefkada in 1810 . The French held out in Corfu until 1814 . The Treaty of Paris in 1815 turned the islands into the "United States of the Ionian Islands" under British protection (November 5, 1815). In January 1817, the British granted the islands a new constitution . The islanders elected an Assembly of 40 members, who advised the British High Commissioner . The British greatly improved the islands' communications, and introduced modern education and justice systems . The islanders welcomed most of these reforms, and took up afternoon tea, cricket and other English pastimes . </P> <P> Once Greek independence was established after 1830, however, the islanders began to resent foreign colonial rule by the British, and to press for Enosis, i . e. union with Greece . The British statesman William Ewart Gladstone toured the islands and recommended that having already Malta, giving the islands to Greece wouldn't hurt the interest of the British Empire . The British government resisted, since like the Venetians they found the islands made useful naval bases . They also regarded the Bavarian - born king of Greece, King Otto, as unfriendly to Britain . However, in 1862, Otto was deposed and a pro-British king, George I, was installed . </P>

Greek island in the ionian sea (italian name )