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CORFU (anc. and mod. Gr. KEpKvpa or Kopiupa, See also: island of See also: Greece, in the Ionian See also: Sea, off the See also: coast of See also: Albania or See also: Epirus, from which it is separated by a strait varying in breadth from less than 2 to about 15 M
.
The name Corfu is an See also: Italian corruption of the See also: Byzantine Kopv4 ,, which is derived from the See also: Greek Kopv¢at (crests)
.
In shape it is not unlike the sickle (drepane), to which it was compared by the ancients,--the hollow See also: side, with the See also: town and harbour of Corfu in the centre, being turned towards the Albanian coast
.
Its extreme length is about 40 M. and its greatest breadth about 20
.
The See also: area is estimated at 227 sq. m., and the population in 1907 was 99,571, of whom 28,254 were in the town and suburbs of Corfu
.
Two high and well-defined ranges See also: divide the island into three districts, of which the See also: northern is mountainous, the central undulating and the See also: southern low-lying
.
The most important of the two ranges is that of See also: San Salvador, probably the See also: ancient Istone, which stretches See also: east and west from Cape St Angelo to Cape St Stefano, and attains its greatest See also: elevation of 3300 ft. in the See also: summit from which it takes its name
.
The second culminates in the See also: mountain of Santi Tieca, or See also: Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation of "Awn See also: AkKa, or the Ten See also: Saints
.
The whole island, composed as it is of various See also: limestone formations, presents See also: great diversity of See also: surface, and the prospects from the more elevated spots are magnificent
.
Corfu is generally considered the most beautiful of all the Greek isles, but the prevalence of the See also: olive gives some monotony to its colouring
.
It is worthy of remark that See also: Homer names, as adorning the garden of See also: Alcinous, seven See also: plants only—wild olive, oil olive, See also: pear, See also: pomegranate, See also: apple, fig and See also: vine
.
Of these the apple and the pear are now very inferior in Corfu; the others thrive well and are accompanied by all the fruit trees known in southern See also: Europe, with addition of the See also: Japanese See also: medlar(or See also: loquat), and, in some spots, of the See also: banana
.
When undisturbed by cultivation, the See also: myrtle, arbutus, See also: bay and ilex See also: form a See also: rich brushwood and the minor See also: flora of the island is extensive
.
The See also: common form of See also: land tenure is the colonic per petua, by which the landlord grants a lease to the See also: tenant and his heirs for ever, in return for a See also: rent, payable in kind, and fixed at a certain proportion of the produce
.
Of old, a tenant thus obtaining See also: half the produce to himself was held to be co-owner of the See also: soil to the extent of one-See also: fourth; and if he had three-fourths of the crop, his ownership came to one-half
.
Such a tenant could not be expelled except for non-payment, See also: bad culture or the transfer of his lease without the landlord's consent
.
Attempts have been made to prohibit so embarrassing a See also: system; but as it is preferred by the agriculturists, the existing See also: laws permit it
.
The portion of the olive crop due to the landlord, whether by colonia or ordinary lease, is paid, not according to the actual harvest, but in keeping with the estimates of valuators mutually appointed, who, just before the fruit is ripe, calculate how much each See also: tree will probably yield
.
The large old fiefs (baronie) in Corfu, as in the other islands, have See also: left their traces in the form of quit-rents (known in Scotland by the name of See also: feu-duties), generally equal to one-tenth of the produce
.
But they have been much subdivided, and the vassals may by See also: law redeem them
.
Single olive trees of first quality yield sometimes as much as 2 gallons of oil, and this with little trouble or expense beyond the See also: collecting and pressing of the fallen fruit
.
The trees grow unrestrained, and some are not less than three See also: hundred years old
.
The vineyards are laboured by the broad See also: heart-shaped See also: hoe
.
The vintage begins on the festival of Santa Croce, or the 26th of See also: September (O.S.)
.
None of the Corfu wines is much exported . The capital is the only city or town of much extent in the island; but there are a number of villages, such as Benizze, Gasturi, Ipso, Glypho, with populations varying from 300 to 1000 . Near Gasturi stands the Achilleion, the palace built for the EmpressSee also: Elizabeth of
See also: Austria, and See also: purchased in 1907 by the See also: German emperor, See also: William II
.
The town of Corfu stands on the broad
See also: part of a peninsula, whose termination in the citadel is cut from it by an artificial See also: fosse formed in a natural See also: gully, with a See also: salt-See also: water ditch at the bottom
.
Having grown up within fortifications, where every See also: foot of ground was precious, it is mostly, in spite of See also: recent improvements, a labyrinth of narrow, tortuous, up-and-down streets, accommodating themselves to the irregularities of the ground, few of them See also: fit for See also: wheel carriages
.
There is, however, a handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel, and a See also: promenade by the seashore towards Castrades
.
The palace, built by See also: Sir See also: Thomas
See also: Maitland (?1759–1824; See also: lord high See also: commissioner of the Ionian Islands, 1815), is a large structure of See also: white Maltese
See also: stone
.
In several parts of the town may be found houses of the Venetian
See also: time, with some traces of past splendour, but they are few, and are giving place to structures in the See also: modern and more convenient French See also: style
.
Of the See also: thirty-seven Greek churches the most important are the See also: cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave (i7 IIavayta E1rnXawrw-oa); St Spiridion's, with the See also: tomb of the See also: patron See also: saint of the island; and the suburban See also: church of St
See also: Jason and St Sosipater, reputed the See also: oldest in the island
.
The city is the seat of a Greek and a See also: Roman Catholic archbishop; and it possesses a gymnasium, a theatre, an agricultural and See also: industrial society, and a library and museum preserved in the buildings formerly devoted to the university, which was founded by See also: Frederick See also: North, 5th See also: earl of Guilford (1766–1827, himself the first chancellor in 1824,) in 1823, but disestablished on the cessation of the See also: English See also: protectorate
.
There are three suburbs of some importance—Castrades, Manduchio and San Rocco
.
The old fortifications of the town, being so extensive as to require a force of from 1o,000 to 20,000 troops to See also: man them, were in great part thrown down by the English, and a simpler See also: plan adopted, limiting the defences to the island of Vido and the old citadel; these are now dismantled
.
See also: History.—According to the See also: local tradition Corcyra was the Homeric island of Scheria, and its earliest inhabitants the Phaeacians
.
At a date no doubt previous to the foundation of Syracuse it was peopled by settlers from See also: Corinth, but it appears to have previously received a stream of emigrants from See also: Eretria
.
The splendid commercial position of Corcyra on the See also: highway between Greece and the West favoured its rapid growth, and, influenced perhaps by the presence of non-Corinthian settlers, its See also: people, quite contrary to the usual practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an See also: independent and even hostile attitude towards the See also: mother city
.
This opposition came to a See also: head in the early part of the 7th century, when their fleets fought the first See also: naval See also: battle recorded in Greek history (about 664 B.c.)
.
These hostilities ended in the See also: conquest of Corcyra by the Corinthian See also: tyrant See also: Periander (c
.
600), who induced his new subjects to join in the colonization of See also: Apollonia and Anactorium
.
The island soon regained its independence and henceforth devoted itself to a purely See also: mercantile policy
.
During the Persian invasion of 48o it manned the second largest Greek See also: fleet (6o See also: ships), but took no active part in the war
.
In 435 it was again involved in a See also: quarrel with Corinth and sought assistance from Athens
.
This new See also: alliance was one of the chief immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War (q.v.), in which Corcyra was of considerable use to the Athenians as a naval station, but did not render much assistance with its fleet
.
The island was nearly lost to Athens by two attempts of the oligarchic faction to effect a revolution; on each occasion the popular party ultimately won the See also: day and took a most bloody revenge on its opponents (427 and 425)
.
During the Sicilian See also: campaigns of Athens Corcyra served as a See also: base for supplies; after a third abortive rising of the oligarchs in 410 it practically withdrew from the war
.
In 395 it again joined the Athenian alliance; two years later it was besieged by a Lacedaemonian armament, but in spite of the devastation of its flourishing countryside held out successfully until See also: relief was at See also: hand
.
In the Hellenistic See also: period Corcyra was exposed to attack from several sides; after a vain siege by Cassander it was occupied in turn by See also: Agathocles and See also: Pyrrhus
.
It subsequently See also: fell into the hands of Illyrian corsairs, until in 229 it was delivered by the See also: Romans, who retained it as a naval
station and gave it the See also: rank of a See also: free See also: state
.
In 31 B.C. it served Octavian (See also: Augustus) as a base against Antony
.
Eclipsed by the foundation of See also: Nicopolis, Corcyra for a long time passed out of See also: notice
.
With the rise of the Norman See also: kingdom in See also: Sicily and the Italian naval See also: powers, it again became a frequent See also: object of attack
.
In 1o8r–ro85 it was held by Robert Guiscard, in 1147-1154 by See also: Roger II. of Sicily
.
During the break-up of the Later Roman See also: Empire it was occupied by Genoese privateers (1197–1207) who in turn were expelled by the Venetians
.
In 1214–1259 it passed to the Greek despots of Epirus, and in 1267 became a possession of the Neapolitan See also: house of See also: Anjou
.
Under the latter's weak See also: rule the island suffered considerably from the inroads of various adventurers ; hence in 1386 it placed itself under the See also: protection of Venice, which in 1401 acquired formal See also: sovereignty over it
.
Corcyra remained in Venetian hands till 1797, though several times assailed by See also: Turkish armaments and subjected to two notable sieges in 1536 and 1716-1718, in which the great natural strength of the city again asserted itself
.
The Venetian feudal families pursued a mild but somewhat enervating policy towards the natives, who began to See also: merge their See also: nationality in that of the Latins and adopted for the island the new name of Corfu
.
The Corfiotes were encouraged to enrich themselves by the cultivation of the olive, but were debarred from entering into commercial competition with Venice . The island served as a See also: refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732 became the home of the first See also: academy of modern Greece, but no serious impulse to Greek thought came from this quarter
.
By the treaty of Campo Formio Corfu was ceded to the French, who occupied it for two years, until they were expelled by a Russo-Turkish armament (1799)
.
For a See also: short time it became the capital of a self-governing federation of the Hephtanesos (" Seven Islands ") ; in 1807 its faction-ridden See also: government was again replaced by a French administration, and in 1809 it was vainly besieged by a See also: British fleet
.
When, by the treaty of See also: Paris of See also: November 5, 1815, the Ionian Islands were placed under the protectorate of Great Britain, Corfu became the seat of the British high commissioner
.
The British commissioners, who were practically autocrats in spite of the retention of the native senate and See also: assembly, introduced a strict method of government which brought about a decided improvement in the material prosperity of the island, but by its very strictness displeased the natives
.
In 1864 it was, with the other Ionian Islands, ceded to the kingdom of Greece, in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants
.
The island has again become an important point of See also: call and has a considerable See also: trade in olive oil; under a more careful system of tillage the value of its agricultural products might be largely increased
.
Corfu contains very few and unimportant remains of antiquity
.
The site of the ancient city of Corcyra(KipKvpa) is wellascertained, about 12 m. to the See also: south-east of Corfu, upon the narrow piece of ground between the sea-lake of Calichiopulo and the Bay of Castrades, in each of which it had a See also: port
.
The circular tomb of Menecrates, with its well-known inscription, is on the Bay of Castrades
.
Under the See also: hill of
See also: Ascension are the remains of a See also: temple, popularly called of See also: Neptune, a very See also: simple Doric structure, which still in its mutilated state presents some peculiarities of architecture
.
Of Cassiope, the only other city of ancient importance, the name is still preserved by the See also: village of Cassopo, and there are some See also: rude remains of See also: building on the site; but the temple of See also: Zeus Cassius for which it was celebrated has totally disappeared
.
Throughout the island there are numerous monasteries and other buildings of Venetian erection, of which the best known are Paleocastrizza, San Salvador and Pelleka
.
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