Republic of Heptanēsa Δημοκρατία Ἑπτάνησα — Subdivision of Greece — Timeline: 1983: Doomsday
 |  |
| Flag | Coat of Arms |
Number 3, in the Green |
|
| Capital: | Corfu |
| Largest city: | Ioannina |
| Other cities: | Sarande, Argostoli |
Language:
official: |
Greek |
| others: | Albanian, Italian |
| Doge: | Spyros Troianos |
| First Minister: | Sotirios Micallef |
| Area: | approx. 19,200 km² |
| Population: | approx. 793,000 |
| Admission: | Founding Member of the Confederation of Greece: 1994, Statehood in Greek Federation: 2009 |
The
Republic of Heptanesa - the Republic of the Seven Islands - as the Ionian Islands are often called by the local population, is a major state within the Greek Federation. It is usually referred to by outsiders as the
Ionian Republic.
Pre-Doomsday
Edit
The islands were settled by Greeks at an early date, possibly as early as 1200 BC, and certainly by the 9th century BC. By the 4th century BC, most of the islands, ware absorbed into the empire of Macedon. Some remained under the control of the Macedonian Kingdom and until 146 BC, when the Greek peninsula was gradually annexed by Rome. After 400 years of peaceful Roman rule the islands passed to the Eastern Roman Empire, and remained part of the Byzantine Empire for another 900 years, until the destruction of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade by marauding Western Europeans and Venetians in 1204.From 1204 the Republic of Venice controlled Corfu and slowly all the Ionian islands fell under Venetian rule. In the 15th century, the Ottomans occupied most of Greece, but the islands remained Christian thanks to the Venetians.
