Corfu

CORFU (anc. and mod. Gr. Kilicvpa or KOptcypa, Lat. Cor cyra), an island of Greece, in the Ionian Sea, separated from the coast of Epirus by a strait from 2 tO 15 m. broad. The name Corfu is an Italian corruption of the Greek Kopmkat (crests, Byz. Kopvcg)). Its length is about 4o m.; greatest breadth about 20. The island consists of three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating and the southern low-lying: all are of limestone formation and picturesque scenery. Two prin cipal ranges are San Salvador (3,30o f t.) (ancient Istone) lying east and west from Cape St. Angelo to Cape St. Stefano. The second culminates in Santa Decca (Greek of "A-yeoe Aka, "The Ten Saints").

Corfu is well-watered, widely fertile, and the most beautiful of the Greek isles, but the prevalent olives give monotony to its colouring. Undisturbed by cultivation, myrtle, arbutus, bay and ilex form thick brushwood. Once planted all the fruit trees known in southern Europe thrive, with the Japanese medlar. Olive oil is a principal crop; the wine is for local consumption. The common form of land tenure is the colonia perpetua, by which the landlord grants a lease to the tenant and his heirs for ever, in return for a rent, payable in kind, and fixed at a certain proportion of the produce. Such a tenant could not be expelled except for non-payment, bad culture or the transfer of his lease without the landlord's consent. Attempts have been made to prohibit so embarrassing a system; but, as it is preferred by the agriculturists, the existing laws permit it. The large old fiefs (baronie) in Corfu, as in the other islands, have left traces in quit-rents generally equal to one-tenth of the produce. But they have been much subdivided, and the vassals may by law redeem them. None of the Corfu wines is much exported. The capital is the only city in the island ; but there are numerous villages. Near Gasturi stands the Achilleion palace, built for the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and later owned by William II. of Ger many. The town of Corfu stands on the broad part of a peninsula within the central bay of the east coast. The steep twin-peaked citadel has the sea on two sides, and is cut off from the town by a natural gully, with an artificial salt-water ditch at the bottom. The old fortifications were in great part thrown down by the English, and defences were limited to the island of Vido and the old capital ; even these are now dismantled. Having grown up within fortifications, the town is a labyrinth of narrow, tortuous, up-and-down streets. But there is a wide esplanade between town, citadel and palace, and a promenade by the seashore towards the suburb Castrades. The palace, built by Sir Thomas Maitland (? 5 24 ; lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands, 1815), is of white Maltese stone. A few houses survive from Venetian times with traces of past splendour, but the modern buildings are in French or Italian style. There are thirty-seven Greek churches. The cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave (rl Hava-yia, njXtLnur sa) ; St. Spiridion's has the tomb of the patron saint of the island; and the suburban church of St. Jason and St. Sosipater is reputed the oldest. The city has a Greek and a Roman Catholic archbishop; a gymnasium, a theatre, and a library and museum preserved in the buildings of the former university, founded by Frederick North, 5th earl of Guilford in 1823, but disestablished when the English protectorate ceased.

Corfu contains very few and unimportant remains of antiquity. The site of the ancient city is about 12 m. to the south-east of Corfu, between the lagoon of Calichiopulo and the bay of Cas trades, in each of which it had a port. The circular tomb of Mene crates, and the remains of a very simple Doric temple are note worthy. Of ancient Cassiope the name is preserved by the village of Cassopo ; but the temple of Zeus Cassius has disappeared. There are numerous monasteries and Venetian buildings.

History.

In local tradition Corcyra was the Homeric island of Scheria, the home of Phaeacians. In early Greek times it was colonized from Corinth, but seems to have had earlier settlers from Eretria. The position of Corcyra on the highway between Greece and the West favoured rapid growth, and freedom of action; and its people, contrary to the practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an independent and even hostile attitude towards the mother city. In the early part of the 7th century, their fleets fought the first naval battle recorded in Greek history (about 664 B.c.). The Corinthian tyrant Periander (c. 600), gov erned Corcyra by deputy, and induced it to join in the coloniza tion of Apollonia and Anactorium. But the island regained its independence and devoted itself to purely mercantile policy. During the Persian invasion of 48o it manned 6o ships, but took no active part. In 435 in a quarrel with Corinth it sought assist ance from Athens. This was one of the chief immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War (q.v.), in which Corcyra was of con siderable use to the Athenians as a naval station and base for supplies though it was twice nearly lost to Athens by internal feuds; on each occasion, 427 and 425, the popular party ulti mately won; after a third abortive rising in 41 o it passed out of the war. In 375 a fresh Athenian alliance resulted in hostilities with Sparta. In the Hellenistic period Corcyra was besieged by Cassander, and occupied in turn by Agathocles Pyrrhus and Illyrian corsairs. From these last, in 229, it was delivered by the Romans, who retained it as a naval station and made it a "free state." In 31 B.C. Octavian used it as a base against Antony, but his victory-foundation, Nicopolis, soon out-rivalled it and Cor cyra for long passed out of notice.

With the rise of the Norman kingdom in Sicily and the Italian naval powers, Corcyra again became a frequent object of attack. In 1081-1085 it was held by Robert Guiscard, in by Roger II. of Sicily, in 1197-1207 by Genoese privateers who were expelled by the Venetians. In 1214-1259 it passed to the Greek Despots of Epirus, and in 1267 to the Neapolitan house of Anjou. Under this weak rule the island suffered from various adventurers; in 1386 it placed itself under the protection of Venice, and in 1401 under its formal sovereignty. Corcyra re mained in Venetian hands till 1797, though several times attacked by the Turks with notable sieges in 1536 and 1716-1718. Under Venetian feudalism the island took the new name of Corfu. The Corfiotes were encouraged to cultivate the olive, but were debarred from commercial competition with Venice. The island served as a refuge for Greek scholars from Turkish conquests and in 1732 became the home of the first academy of modern Greece, but no serious impulse to Greek thought came from this quarter.

By the treaty of Campo Formio, Corfu was ceded to the French, who occupied it for two years, until they were expelled by a Russo-Turkish armament (1799). For a short time it became the capital of the self-governing federation of the Hephtanesos ("Seven Islands") ; in 1807 its faction-ridden government was again replaced by a French administration, and in 1809 it was attacked by a British fleet. By the treaty of Paris of November 5th, 1815, the Ionian Islands were placed under the protectorate of Great Britain and Corfu became the seat of the British high commissioner. Though the native senate and assembly were re tained, British administration improved conditions, but its strict ness displeased the natives, and in 1864 Corfu was ceded with the other Ionian Islands to the kingdom of Greece, in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. (J. L. MY.) Although the neutralization of Corfu was maintained after the Balkan wars, its military importance grew so greatly during the World War, after the Serbian retreat across Albania, that the French, ignoring a Greek protest, landed there on Jan.. 11, 1916. They were followed by the first detachment of retreating Serbs four days later, and by Feb. 1 o some 7 5,00o Serbian troops, as well as Montenegrin soldiers, had been landed in the island, whither on the previous day the Serbian Government had trans ported its seat and where, on Sept. io, the Serbian Parliament met in the theatre. In July 1917 the "Pact of Corfu" was signed, which proclaimed the union of the Yugoslays.

On Aug. 27, 1923, the Italian delegate for the delimitation of the Albanian frontier, Gen. Tellini, was assassinated at Kakavia. There was no proof that the assassins were Greeks ; but Signor Mussolini held the Hellenic Government responsible and sent an Italian fleet to Corfu, which bombarded the town and killed sev eral Greek and Armenian refugees. After exacting from Greece 50,000,000 lire as an indemnity, the Italians evacuated Corfu on Sept. 27. (For the international handling of this dispute, see