The Ionian Islands under the British Protectorate: Social and Economic Problems

Abstract

I. Introduction The British occupied the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Paxos, Levkas, Ithaca, Zante, Cephalonia, and Kythera) for strategic and military purposes, and in this respect the protectorate, established by the treaty of Paris in 1815, was a device to keep the islands out of the hands of either Russia or France (Tumelty 1952: 14-15).' Nonetheless, during its brief history the protectorate was by no means governed simply as a military stronghold; neither was its administration concerned solely with strategic affairs. The British found themselves governing a population numbering around 240,000 (BPP 1857: 383), a society which had been complicated by previous foreign rulers, and a flawed and moribund economy. Partly as a result of social and economic problems, the one other factor being nationalism, the Ionian Islands failed to escape the tendency for revolt and disorder that afflicted Europe during the years 1848 and 1849. Covering the period 1815 to 1864, the life-span of the protectorate, this article is primarily concerned with the difficulties the British experienced in their efforts to maintain the well-being of the Ionian Islands. It is based mainly on British sources and gives British points of view. Nevertheless its publication one hopes will stimulate further research on the protectorate, in English, and based on a wider range of source material. The article begins with a discussion on the constitution of the protectorate, and moves immediately on to a study of the legal and political status of the islands. There then follows a class analysis, which is also an observation of the way in which Ionian society was divided on cultural and linguistic lines. This section prepares us for the next two topics: land tenure and finance as expressed by the then prevailing colonia and prostichio systems. This leads to an examination of Ionian