Page 13 - Zakynthos Tourist Guide 2025

Η ιστορία της Ζακύνθου
VENETIAN PERIOD
In 1185 with the progressive decline of The first advantages from the British were
the Byzantine empire, Zakynthos island public assistance and the institution of the
faced an interregnum of the duration first typography of the island. All those
of three centuries in which the Orsini, benefits vanquished with the arrival of T.
the Angioini and the Tocchi succeeded Maitland, the new governor of Zakynthos.
one another. Under the latter dynasty
Zakynthos managed to enlarge the bor- He was an authoritative tyrant up to the
ders of its county conquering part of the extent that the population, after some
continental Greece improving both the protests towards the British government,
economic administration and the organ- founded a secret patriotic society named
ization up to the extent to interest the “Filikì Eteria”.
Venetians that in 1485 included Zakyn- The society was behind the Greek national
thos to their provinces. insurrection and in Zakynthos there is a
stele commemorating the patriots.
From 1492 the Venetian Government
started a campaign to transfer many ATTACHMENT TO GREECE
Venetians citizens to the province of Greece independence from Turkey was
Zakynthos granting a period of rebirth the reason of the birth of a radical move-
and prosperity of the island. The har- ment in the Ionian Islands that fought long
monic cohabitation between the two against the British in order to join Greece
populations in that period was exempla- and being free from foreign power.
ry mainly due to the Venetians wisdom
that were able to maintain peace condi- Zante and the Ionian Islands joined Greece
tions giving to the islanders social and re- in 1864 year in which the Greek flag was
ligious freedom. In less than three cen- raised.
turies the Venetian domination allowed
the island to flourish from both the cul- MODERN ERA
tural and architectonic point of view up As the rest of Greece even Zakynthos was
to the extent that Zakynthos deserved the subdued to the Italian and German occu-
name of Florence of Greece. pation during the World War II, and a re-
sistance against the invaders came to life.
The French liberal ideas in the XVIII cen-
turies, spread in the whole Europe and After the war the island had another big
reached Zakynthos that greeted them shock in 1953: an earthquake destroyed the
with great enthusiasm. entire city. The ancient and beautiful build-
ings were razed and nothing remained of
BRITISH DOMINATION the different domination that succeeded
In 1809 the British settled in Zakynthos one another on the island. Thanks to the
with a big army and made it the capital of help of the government and the goodwill of
the Ionian State. the citizens the city was slowly and entirely
rebuilt.

TOURIST GUIDE 2025

13