Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands da Màr" until Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Republic of Venice in 1797, annexing Corfu. The Ionian Islands are situated in the Ionian Sea, off the west coast of Greece. Cythera, the southernmost, is just off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and Corfu, the northernmost, is located at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea. In modern Greek, the period of Venetian rule over Greek territory is known as "Venetokratia" or "Enetokratia" ( or ) and literally means "rule of the Venetians". It is believed that the Venetian period on the Ionian Islands was agreeable, especially compared with the coinciding "Tourkokratia"
Albanian Regiment (France) that had resettled in the islands after losing conflicts against Ali Pasha in the Pashalik of Yanina and another one that comprised 500 Greeks. After the French army took over the administration of the area the Albanians were enrolled as the Albanian Regiment () and the Greek refugees as the Battalion of Greek Infantry Skirmishers () sometimes known as the Indigenous Battalion of Ionian Islands () and after the enrollment of Albanian refugees also as the Pandours of Albania (). In the Albanian Regiment later local Greeks, Italian and Dalmatians would be recruited but the desired total number of 3,254