Union of the Ionian Islands with Greece

On 21 May 1864, the Ionian Islands were officially united with Greece, ending nearly fifty years of British protection. The islands, including Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Paxos and Kythira, had been governed as the United States of the Ionian Islands under British control since 1815. Over the decades, a strong movement for union with Greece, known as enosis, had grown, and the Ionian parliament had repeatedly called for it, while British authorities sometimes suppressed supporters of union. After the Greeks chose Prince William of Denmark as King George I, Britain agreed to hand over the islands as a gift to support the new king and to strengthen the pro-British monarchy. In the Treaty of London of March 1864, Britain, France and Russia agreed to the transfer. Before leaving Corfu, the British demolished parts of its fortifications, and the islands were declared neutral. The union was the first expansion of Greek territory since independence. It brought Greece a well-educated population and a rich cultural tradition, including the poet Dionysios Solomos, author of the national anthem.