Early history Bacchus at the
Archaeological Museum of Corfu The earliest reference to Corfu is the
Mycenaean Greek word
ko-ro-ku-ra-i-jo ("man from Kerkyra") written in
Linear B syllabic script, c. 1300 BC. According to
Strabo,
Corcyra (Κόρκυρα) was the
Homeric island of
Scheria (Σχερία), and its earliest inhabitants were the
Phaeacians (Φαίακες). Some scholars have indeed identified the island with
Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians described in
Homer's
Odyssey, though conclusive and irrefutable evidence for this theory has not been found.
Apollonius of Rhodes depicts the island in
Argonautica as a place visited by the Argonauts.
Jason and
Medea were married there in 'Medea's Cave'. Apollonius named the island
Drepane, Greek for "sickle", since it was thought to hide the sickle that
Cronus used to castrate his father
Uranus, from whose blood the Phaeacians were descended. In an alternative account, Apollonius identifies the buried sickle as a scythe belonging to
Demeter, yet the name
Drepane probably originated from the island's sickle shape. According to a
scholiast, commenting on the passage in
Argonautica, the island was first of all called
Macris after the nurse of
Dionysus who fled there from
Euboea. Some scholars have asserted that Corfu is
Taphos, the island of the
Lelegian Taphians. According to
Strabo (VI, 269), the
Liburnians were masters of the island
Korkyra (Corfu) for a time, until the 8th century BC. They reportedly were expelled from
Korkyra by the Corinthians. At a date no doubt previous to the foundation of
Syracuse, Corfu was peopled by settlers from
Corinth, probably 730 BC. Still, it appears to have previously received a stream of emigrants from
Eretria. The commercially advantageous location of Corcyra on the way between Greece and
Magna Grecia, and its fertile lowlands in the southern section of the island favoured its growth and, influenced perhaps by the presence of non-Corinthian settlers, its people, quite contrary to the usual practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an independent and even hostile attitude towards the mother city. In 31 BC, it served
Octavian (Augustus) as a base against
Mark Antony. At his death in 1267 it passed to the
House of Anjou. Thus, Corfu became part of the Angevin
Kingdom of Sicily, ruled by Frankish
Charles of Anjou of the royal
Capetian dynasty. From 1286 to 1290, it was governed by
Richard Orsini on behalf of the Kingdom and then by
Florent of Hainaut. Later in 1294, Corfu was given to
Philip I along with the other eastern possessions of the Kingdom of Naples. The island suffered considerably from the inroads of various adventurers. From 1386, Corfu was controlled by the
Republic of Venice, which in 1401 acquired formal sovereignty and retained it until the French Occupation of 1797. Kerkyra, the "Door of Venice" during the centuries when the whole Adriatic was the
Gulf of Venice, remained in Venetian hands from 1401 until 1797, though several times assailed by Ottoman naval and land forces A series of attempts by the
Ottomans to take the island began in 1431 when Ottoman troops under
Ali Bey landed on the island. The Ottomans tried to take the city castle and raid the surrounding area, but were repulsed. The
Siege of Corfu (1537) was the first great siege by the Ottomans. It began on 29 August 1537, with 25,000 soldiers from the Ottoman fleet landing and pillaging the island and taking 20,000 hostages as
enslaved people. Despite the destruction wrought on the countryside, the city castle held out despite repeated attempts over twelve days to take it, and the Turks left the island unsuccessfully because of poor logistics and an epidemic that decimated their ranks. The success was owed in no small part to the extensive fortifications, where Venetian castle engineering had proven itself once again against considerable odds. The repulse of the Ottomans was widely celebrated in Europe, Corfu being seen as a bastion of
Western civilization against the
Ottoman tide. Today, however, this role is often relatively unknown or ignored, but was celebrated in
Juditha triumphans by the Venetian composer
Antonio Vivaldi.
Venetian policies and legacy Corfu's urban architecture differs from that of other major Greek cities due to its unique history. From 1386 to 1797, Corfu was ruled by the Venetian nobility; much of the city reflects this era, when the island belonged to the
Republic of Venice, with multi-storeyed buildings lining narrow lanes. The Old Town of Corfu has clear Venetian influence and is listed as a
World Heritage Site in Greece. It was during the Venetian period that the city saw the construction of the first opera house in Greece (
Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù). Many Venetian-speaking families settled in Corfu during these centuries; they were called
Corfiot Italians, and until the second half of the 20th century,
Veneto da mar was spoken there. During this time, the local Greek language assimilated a large number of Italian and Venetian words, many of which are still common today. The internationally renowned Venetian-born British photographer
Felice Beato (1832–1909) is thought to have spent much of his childhood in Corfu. Also, many
Italian Jews took refuge in Corfu during the Venetian centuries. They spoke their own language (
Italkian), a mixture of Hebrew and Italian in a Venetian or Apulian dialect, with some Greek words. Venetians promoted the
Catholic Church during their four centuries of rule in Corfu. Today, the majority of Corfiots are
Greek Orthodox, but the small Catholic minority (5%) living harmoniously with the Orthodox community traces its faith to these origins. These contemporary Catholics are mostly families who came from
Malta, but also from
Italy, and today the Catholic community numbers about 4,000 ( of Maltese descent), who live almost exclusively in the Venetian "Citadel" of
Corfu City. Like other native Greek Catholics, they celebrate Easter using the same calendar as the
Greek Orthodox church. The
Cathedral of St. James and St. Christopher in Corfu City is the see of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Corfu, Zakynthos and Cephalonia. The island served also as a refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732, it became the home of the first academy of modern Greece. The period of British rule led to investment in new roads, an improved water supply system, and the expansion of the
Ionian Academy into a university. During this period, the
Greek language became the official language. Following a plebiscite, the
Second National Assembly of the Greeks at Athens elected a new king, Prince Wilhelm (William) of Denmark, who took the name
George I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. On 29 March 1864, the
United Kingdom,
Greece,
France and
Russia signed the
Treaty of London, pledging the transfer of sovereignty to Greece upon ratification. Thus, on 21 May, by proclamation of the Lord High Commissioner, the Ionian Islands were united with Greece. As of May 1891, arson attempts had been unsuccessful, and the British Parliament could not answer a question about whether some people had died. Part of the Jewish population chose to leave the island, mainly for
Thessaloniki, the Ottoman territories being more welcoming.
Albert Cohen's family left in 1900 and settled in
Marseille.
British Lord High Commissioners during the protectorate This is a list of the British High Commissioners of the Ionian Islands (as well as the transitional Greek Governor, appointed a year before Enosis (Union) with Greece in 1864). •
Sir James Campbell 1814–1816 •
Sir Thomas Maitland (1759–1824) 1815–1823 •
Sir Frederick Adam (1781–1853) 1823–1832 •
Sir Alexander Woodford (1782–1870) 1832 •
George Nugent-Grenville, 2nd Baron Nugent (1788–1850) 1832–1835 •
Howard Douglas (1776–1861) 1835–1840 •
James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie (1784–1843) 1840–1843 •
John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton (1778–1863) 1843–1849 •
Sir Henry George Ward (1797–1860) 1849–1855 •
Sir John Young (1807–1876) 1855–1859 •
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) 1859 •
Sir Henry Knight Storks (1811–1874) 1859–1863 • Count Dimitrios Nikolaou Karousos, President of the
Ionian Parliament (1799–1873) 1863–1864
First World War During the
First World War, the island served as a refuge for the Serbian army, which retreated there on
Allied ships from a homeland occupied by the Austrians, Germans, and
Bulgarians. During their stay, a large portion of Serbian soldiers died from exhaustion, food shortages, and various diseases. Most of their remains were buried at sea near the island of
Vido, a small island at the mouth of Corfu port, and a monument of thanks to the Greek nation has been erected at Vido by the grateful Serbs; consequently, the waters around Vido Island are known by the Serbian people as the
Blue Tomb (in Serbian, Плава Гробница,
Plava Grobnica), after a poem written by
Milutin Bojić following World War I.
Interwar period In 1923, after a diplomatic dispute between Italy and Greece, Italian forces bombarded and occupied Corfu. The
League of Nations settled this
Corfu incident in Italy's favour.
Second World War Italian occupation and resistance During the
Greco-Italian War, Corfu was occupied by the Italians in April 1941. They administered Corfu and the Ionian islands as a separate entity from Greece until September 1943, following
Benito Mussolini's orders to fulfill Italian
Irredentism and make Corfu part of the
Kingdom of Italy. During the Second World War the
10th Infantry Regiment of the
Greek Army, composed mainly of Corfiot soldiers, was assigned the task of defending Corfu. The regiment took part in
Operation Latzides, which was an unsuccessful attempt to stem the forces of the Italians. In early June 1944, while the Allies bombed Corfu as a diversion from the
Normandy landings, the
Gestapo rounded up the
Jews of the city, temporarily incarcerated them at the old fort (Palaio Frourio), and on 10 June sent them to
Auschwitz II, where most of them were
murdered by gas. Approximately two hundred out of a total population of 1,900 escaped. Many among the local population at the time provided shelter and refuge to those 200 Jews who managed to escape the Nazis. In
Evraiki (Εβραική, meaning
Jewish quarter), there is currently a synagogue with about 65 members, who still speak their original
Italkian language. The
Royal Navy swept the Corfu Channel for mines in 1944 and 1945, and found it to be free of mines. A large minefield was laid there shortly afterwards by the newly communist Albania and gave rise to the
Corfu Channel Incident. This incident led to the
Corfu Channel Case, where the United Kingdom opened a case against the
People's Republic of Albania at the
International Court of Justice.
Post–World War and modern Corfu After World War II and the
Greek Civil War, the island was rebuilt under the general reconstruction programme of the Greek Government (Ανοικοδόμησις), and many elements of its classical architecture remain. Its economy grew, but some of its inhabitants left the island for other parts of the country; buildings erected during the Italian occupation – such as schools and government buildings – were put back to civic use. In 1956
Maria Desylla Kapodistria, relative of first Governor (head of state) of Greece
Ioannis Kapodistrias, was elected mayor of
Corfu and became the first female mayor in Greece. The Corfu General Hospital was also constructed; electricity was introduced to the villages in the 1950s, the radio substation of Hellenic Radio in Corfu was inaugurated in March 1957, and television was introduced in the 1960s, with internet connections in 1995. The
Ionian University was established in 1984. ==Architecture==