Ionian Islands (redirected from Heptanese)

Ionian Islands (īō`nēən), chain of islands (1991 pop. 193,734), c.890 sq mi (2,310 sq km), W Greece, in the Ionian Sea, along the coasts of Epirus and the Peloponnesus. The group is made up of Kérkira, Paxoí, Lefkás, Kefallinía, Itháki, Zákinthos, Kíthira, and numerous islets. Largely mountainous, the islands reach their highest point at Mt. Ainos (c.5,340 ft/1,630 m) on Kefallinía. Fruits, grains, timber, olives, wine, and cotton are produced, and sheep, goats, and hogs are raised. Industries include fishing, shipping, and tourism. The islands had no unified history until the 10th cent. A.D., when they were made a province of the Byzantine Empire. Venice took the islands in the 14th and 15th cent. and held them until 1797, when the Treaty of Campo Formio, which ended the Venetian republic, gave the islands to France. In 1799 they were seized by a Russo-Turkish fleet and were constituted a republic under Russian protection. In 1807, by the Treaty of Tilsit, Russia returned the islands to France. From 1809 to 1814 the British navy occupied all the islands except Kérkira. In 1815 the Ionian Islands, known as the "United States of the Ionian Islands," were placed under British protection. The British ceded the islands to Greece in 1864 after considerable popular agitation on the islands. A series of earthquakes in 1953 caused extensive damage.

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Ionian Islands

 ancient Heptanesos

Group of seven Greek islands (pop., 2001: 214,274) in the Ionian Sea. They include Corfu, Cephalonia, Zacynthus, Leucas, Ithaca, Cythera, and Paxos and have a combined land area of 891 sq mi (2,307 sq km). Controlled by Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries, they were taken by Russian and Turkish forces in 1799. In 1815 the Treaty of Paris placed them under the control of Britain; the British ceded them to Greece in 1864.

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Ionian Islands 

a group of islands belonging to Greece in the Ionian Sea off the western shore of the Balkan Peninsula. Area, more than 2,200 sq km. There are five large islands— Ithaki (Ithaca), Levkas (Leucas), Kefallinia (Cephalonia), Zakinthos (Zante), and Kerkira (Corfu)—and many islets, separated from the mainland by a shallow sea and continuing the mountain chains of Greece, broken up by faults. The islands have frequent earthquakes. The sharply defined and precipitous shores create many excellent harbors. The islands are mountainous (maximum altitude, 1,628 m) and composed primarily of limestone and shale; there are foothills along the shores in places and fertile lowlands with olive groves, vineyards, and citrus orchards. Maquis predominates on the slopes; there are also oak forests. The primary industries are sheepherding and fishing. The cities of Kerkira, Argostolion, and Zakinthos are located in the Ionian Islands.