Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands 1809, Great Britain took possession of all the islands with the exception of Corfu and Paxos, which was only surrendered in 1814. In 1815, the Ionian Islands became a British protectorate under the name United States of the Ionian Islands. The civil and military governor of the Ionian Islands was the "Provveditore generale da Mar", who lived on Corfu and had the supreme peacetime command of the Venetian navy. In wartime, due to his absence at the head of the fleet, he was sometimes replaced by a "Provveditore generale delle Tre Isole" ("Superintendent general of the Three Islands"), referring to
Albanian Ionian Sea Coast to the east, Greece to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The coastline has a total length of and specifically marked by a mountainous landscape supplied with deep bays, numerous islands, high cliffs, rocky and sandy coasts and a unique marine life. The Ionian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea positioned south of the Adriatic Sea, which extend from Sicily up to the Strait of Otranto between Salento and Bay of Vlorë. It is bordered by Italy in the west, Greece and Albania in the east. Though considered by ancient authors to be part of