Historical Sketch

The Republic of Venice conquered the island of Corfu in 1204 and gradually gained control over the entire archipelago. The Ionian Islands thus escaped Ottoman rule which was established all over Greece. In 1797, Napoleonic France conquered Venice and crushed the republic. Already in the following year, the French were evicted from the Ionian Islands by a Russian intervention. In 1800, the autonomous "Septinsular Republic" was established under joint Russian-Ottoman suzerainty, but lasted only until 1807, when in the Treaty of Tilsit after the Russian defeat against France, the islands were ceded again to France. Great Britain occupied the Ionian Islands in 1813 and erected a protectorate over the "United States of the Ionian Islands" two years later, which thus saw a second period of autonomy. In 1864, Greece and the European powers signed a treaty leading to the integration of the Ionian Islands into Greece.

Monetary History Overview

Venetian accounting had been introduced in Ionian Islands during middle ages. In 1762, the new Venetian Thaler (Tallero) for the Levantine trade was adopted as the new base coin for the accounting unit of the Ionian Thaler. A large variety of foreign silver and gold coins were in daily use, occasionally supplemented by local subsidiary coins. After Venice had lost its independence in the late 18th century, its currency got displaced by the Spanish Dollar. The Ionian state changed accounting in 1820, the Spanish Dollar became the base coin, referred to in the legal text as "Distilo" or "Kolona" (both referring to the columns depicted on the coin as part of the Spanish coat of arms). The attempt to withdraw the widely used Turkish subsidiary coins and replace them with British coins failed. In 1825, the government decreed the transition to Sterling accounting. Since island economy was based on silver, the golden Sovereign was unfit to serve as base for the currency. The 1827 currency law therefore specified the Ionian Crown, as unit of account as equal to the British five Shillings Sterling in silver. British silver and copper coins were made current but could not displace the Spanish Dollar. All the outdated subsidiary coinage could, however, be demonetized until 1835. In 1839, the British dominated Ionian Bank began operations and issued paper money. In 1864, Great Britain gave up its protectorate, and the Ionian Islands joined the Greek state. The Greek Drachma was introduced immediately, the Ionian money was withdrawn until June 1870. The Ionian Bank retained its privilege and continued to issue paper money for the Greek islands until 1905. The right to issue paper money in the Ionian Islands expired in 1920.

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