ZAKYNTHOS HISTORY

Roman

In 150 BC, General Fulvius vanquished the Aetolians and successfully reconquered Zakynthos for Rome. During the early Christian years, piracy in the Ionian brought a number of invasions to the island and after several hundreds years of Roman rule the island gained independent governance with the caveat that taxes were paid to Rome. Zakynthos gained cultural respectability in the region and was a regular host to Roman scholars and intellectuals.

Byzantine

Following the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the region succumbed to the insatiable greed of pirates. In the decades that followed, Vandals, Huns, Goths and Barbary corsairs would plunder the Ionian islands and the western Mediterranean in general.

Constantine the Great founded the Byzantine Empire and Zakynthos became part of the province of Illyria. Under the patronage of Constantinople, Zakynthos became less vulnerable to the invading forces of the region and enjoyed a period of cultural and economic regeneration.

During this period, it is believed that Christianity came to the island. Mary Magdalene allegedly visited the island in 34AD via Jerusalem to Rome where she is believed to have imparted the teachings of Christ.

In 466AD, Zakynthos once again fell to destructive invaders. The African Vandal king Gizarich blockaded the island with sixty ships, plundered the island and razed Zakynthos Town to the ground.

Crusaders and Overlords

As the Byzantine Empire was fading from prominence, Crusader armies invaded in search of converts and the rich booties which lay to the East. In the period between 1147 and 1479, the island was ruled by aristocratic overlords who would eventually cede the island to the expansionist Venetians in 1485. Many legacies of this period (predominantly from an architectural point of view) remain to the present day.

Venetians

During the early years of Venetian rule, Zakynthos enjoyed a new period of growth, both in terms of population and economic activity. Venetian rule created conditions for politic stability and the growth of the new town (Zakynthos Town) through self-government under a council of Nobles. The island was less vulnerable to the Turks than other parts of this region.

After the Cretan War in 1669, the Republic of Venice was in decline and lost its overseas territories one by one. The ruling classes on the island felt threatened by the spread of eighteenth century liberal ideas and in a desperate attempt to usurp this social revolution, murdered the Jacobins, the primary political group on the island.

This was to be the last bloody stand for the Venetians who surrendered the town and the island to the French in 1797.

French Republic and the Russo-Turkish Occupation

Under the French, Zakynthos became the regional council for the Prefecture of the Aegean and during the next fifteen months began a period of reconstruction before the Russo-Turkish fleet forced the French to leave the island.

In 1800, Russia and Turkey signed a treaty in Constantinople which founded the Eptanissos State of the Ionian Islands. This would be a self-governing part of the Russian Empire whose constitution declared that local government be drawn from hereditary nobles. The people of Zakynthos, haunted by the legacy of previous nobles, revolted and raised a Union Flag on Zakynthos fortress in the hope of attracting British forces to defend their independence. It would be another nine years of instability before the British would finally impact upon the island's independence.

English Rule

The early period of British rule brought a series of improvements to the quality of life on the island. During this period, Zakynthos was still viewed as a territorial prize and was a British protectorate. Once again, foreign rule, this time under the administration of Thomas Maitland, the British High Commissioner, was cruel and unjust.

When the Greek revolution was declared, the people of Zakynthos found fresh impetus to fight on the side of the Greeks. In 1864, recognising Free Greece, England abandoned her status as protector and the Greek flag was raised in Zakynthos Town.