Corcyre

Department of Corcyre
*Département de Corcyre*
Department of Corcyre Département de Corcyre
1797–1799
	Flag
	The three departments of Greece
Status	Department of the French First Republic
Chef-lieu	Corfu; 39°42′N 19°47′E / 39.70°N 19.79°E
Official languages	French
Common languages	Greek
Government
• Commissioners	Louis Chicoilet de Corbigny; Jean Briche
Historical era	French Revolutionary Wars
• Treaty of Campo Formio	18 October 1798
• Establishment	7 November 1797
• Fall of Corfu	3 March 1799
• Official disbandment	25 March 1802
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands
Septinsular Republic
Pashalik of Yanina
Today part of	Albania; Greece;

Corcyre (French: [kɔʁ.kiʁ]; archaic French for "Corfu"; Greek: Κέρκυρα, romanized: Kerkyra) was one of three short-lived French departments of Greece.

History

It came into existence after Napoleon's conquest in 1797 of the Republic of Venice, when Venetian Greek possessions such as the Ionian islands fell to the French Directory. It consisted of the islands of Kerkyra (Corfu) and Paxoi, as well as the cities of Butrint and Parga on the adjacent mainland. Its prefecture was in the City of Corfu. The island was lost to Russia after the Siege of Corfu (1798–1799) and the department was officially disbanded in 1802. Also, Butrint was captured in 1798 by Ali Pasha, ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina.

During the renewed French control in 1807–1814, the department was not re-established, the constitutional form of the former Septinsular Republic being kept.

The Commissioner of the Directory was the highest state representative in the department.

Term start	Term end	Office holder
18 October 1797	?? May 1798	Louis Antoine Ange Chicoilet de Corbigny
?? May 1798	3 March 1799	Jean Briche

Lacroix, Louis (1853). Les Îles de la Grèce [The Islands of Greece] (in French). Firmin Didot. p. 638.
Pauthier, G. (1863). Les Îles Ioniennes pendant l'occupation française et le protectorat anglais [The Ionian Islands during the French occupation and the British protectorate] (in French). Paris: Benjamin Duprat.
Bellaire, J.P. (1805). Précis des opérations générales de la Division française du Levant [Precis of the general operations of the French division in the Levant] (in French). Paris: Magimel & Humbert.