Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands individually and collectively, by various names. After Venice captured Cephalonia on 24 December 1500, the administration of the defense of all the islands was delegated to an official seated in Corfu. This official was being referred to as "the General ' of the Three Islands" (') and resided at the fortress of Angelokastro from 1387 to the end of the 16th century. The "Three Islands" refer to Corfu, Zante and Cephalonia. The Venetian equivalent for "Ionian Islands" is ', the Italian being ' and the Greek in Modern Greek and in . Below are the seven principal islands from north
Archaic Greek alphabets sampi (modern ). As an alphabetic character, it has been attested in the cities of Miletus, Ephesos, Halikarnassos, Erythrae, Teos (all situated in the region of Ionia in Asia Minor), in the island of Samos, in the Ionian colony of Massilia, and in Kyzikos (situated farther north in Asia Minor, in the region of Mysia). In Pontic Mesembria, on the Black Sea coast of Thrace, it was used on coins, which were marked with the abbreviation of the city's name, spelled . The sound denoted by this letter was a reflex of the proto-Greek consonant clusters , , , or