French rule in the Ionian Islands French rule in the Ionian Islands The French rule in the Ionian Islands ( "Gallokratía ton Eptaníson") lasted from June 1797 to March 1799. Following the Fall of the Republic of Venice in May 1797, the Ionian Islands, a Venetian possession, were occupied by the French Republic. The French instituted a new, democratic regime and, following the Treaty of Campo Formio, annexed the islands to France, forming the three departments of "Corcyre" (Corfu), "Ithaque" (Ithaca) and "Mer-Égée" (Aegean Sea). Originally widely welcomed, French rule began to grow oppressive to the islanders, and aroused the enmity of the Ottoman Empire and
Greek New Zealanders their ethnicity as Greek in New Zealand was 2,478 in the March 2013 census. The vast majority of the Greeks immigrating to New Zealand came from the western prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania, the Ionian Sea islands of Ithaca and Kephalonia, and from the island of Lesbos which is located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. Smaller numbers have come from Macedonia, Epirus, Attica, the Peloponnese, Crete, Romania and Cyprus. Chain migration has been popular. It is believed that the first Greek in New Zealand was a Mr Constas, an officer in the merchant navy from Sparta, Laconia which is situated in the