French rule in the Ionian Islands convince the French of his good intentions, showering them with honours and providing food—and even feigning interest in Jacobin ideals—but his main objective, the cession of the mainland exclaves of the Ionian Islands, was rebuffed. Gentili did, however, lift the prohibition on Ottoman ships from traversing the Straits of Corfu, which had been in place since the 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz. This allowed Ali to move over sea against his rival, Mustafa Pasha of Delvino. In July/August 1797 (or in Easter 1798, according to other sources), his forces sailed to Lukovo and committed massacres against the local population, forcing them
Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands the Ionian Islands. Because of its status, Italian was also taught at schools along with Greek and English (Ionian Islands were a protectorate of the United Kingdom from 1815 until 1864). In the First Year of the secondary education, for instance, Greek was taught four times a week, Italian three times and English twice. In the Greek Census of 1907, 4,675 people from the Ionian Islands stated Catholicism as their denomination, about 1.8% of the total population (254,494), while 2,541 (1%) Ionians stated Italian as their mother tongue, making it the second language by number of speakers. The Italian language