Historical Landmarks

734 BC Corinthians found colony of Korkyra.

665 BC Korkyra defeats Corinth and gains independence.

229 BC – AD 336 Romans control Corfu, their first colony in the Adriatic.

336 Corfu becomes part of Byzantine Empire.

562 Ostrogoths devastate ancient Korkyra and its monuments.

933 Byzantine Corfiots establish new capital and build first fortress.

1185 Normans seize Corfu after several attempts.

1204 Fall of Constantinople to Fourth Crusade; Venice acquires Corfu.

1537 Kérkyra Town withstands first Turkish siege; countryside sacked.

1572–1645 Venice erects great city walls and fortresses at Kérkyra.

1716 Corfiots, Venetians and allies repel Ottoman siege of Corfu.

1797 Napoleon defeats Venice, which cedes Ionian Islands to France.

1799–1807 Russians and Turks seize Corfu; ‘Septinsular Republic’ set up by Russia.

1807–14 Ionian Islands again taken by French.

1814–63 Corfu becomes a British protectorate.

1828 Mainland Greece wins independence from Turkey.

1864 Britain dissolves protectorate, cedes Ionian Islands to Greece.

1916 Corfu gives refuge to exiled Serbian government.

1941 Corfu surrenders to Italy.

1943 Kérkyra Town badly damaged by German bombardment. Nazis occupy Corfu.

1944 Corfu liberated by the Allies.

2002 Greece adopts the euro.
2007 Corfu’s Old Town designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

2010–11 Greek debt becomes unmanageable; Greece goes under IMF/EU supervision.

2012–2014 Harsh austerity measures trigger political crisis; the new radical leftist party Syriza gains popularity.

2015 Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, becomes PM; international creditors grant Greece a third bailout.