Ithaque
Ithaque
French department in the Ionian Islands (1797-1802); today part of Greece
Ithaque (French: [i.tak]; French for "Ithaca") was one of three short-lived French departments of Greece.
Department of Ithaque Département d'Ithaque | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1797–1798 | |||||||||||
The three departments of Greece | |||||||||||
| Status | Department of the French First Republic | ||||||||||
| Chef-lieu | Argostoli 38.17°N 20.49°E / 38.17; 20.49 | ||||||||||
| Official languages | French | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Greek | ||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||
• Commissioner | Pierre-Pomponne-Amédée Pocholle | ||||||||||
| Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | ||||||||||
| 18 October 1798 | |||||||||||
• Establishment | 7 November 1797 | ||||||||||
• Fall of Cephalonia | 29 October 1798 | ||||||||||
| 25 March 1802 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||||
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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 included the islands of Ithaca, Cephalonia and Lefkada, as well as the cities of Preveza, Arta and Vonitsa on the adjacent mainland. Its prefecture was at Argostoli on Cephalonia. The islands were lost to Russia in 1798 and the department was officially disbanded in 1802. Also Preveza, Arta and Vonitsa were captured in 1798 by Ali Pasha, ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina.
During the renewed French control of the area in 1807–1809, the department was not re-established, the constitutional form of the Septinsular Republic being kept.
Commissioner
The Commissioner of the Directory was the highest state representative in the department.
| Term start | Term end | Office holder |
|---|---|---|
| 18 October 1797[1] | 3 March 1799 | Pierre-Pomponne-Amédée Pocholle |
- Bellaire, J.P. (1805). Précis des opérations générales de la division française du Levant. Magimel & Humbert. p. 10.
département d'ithaque.
- 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.