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The name Lefkada, Greece, is related to the most southern part of the island, the cape of Levkata, which is characterised by white rocks. Leukos means white in Greek.
 Lefkada was the name first given to the town and then to the whole island. According to the myth, Sappho, the Lyric poetess, could not endure the torture of her love for Phaon and killed herself falling from these rocks.
In the 7th century B.C. the island was colonised by Corinthians. During this period, the island’s city was called Nirikos. he Corinthians built the new town of Lefkada, and in 650 B.C., for defensive reasons, they started the construction of the canal which separates Lefkada from the mainland and turned it into an island. The bridge that connected Lefkada to the mainland measured 184 metres
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long.
In the 3rd century B.C., Lefkada became a part of the Acarnanian federation together with the inhabitants of Acarnania on the mainland.
In 230 B.C., the island allied with the Macedonians against the Romans attack, and in 198 B.C., finally fell under the Roman rule, becoming a part of the Roman province of Nikopolis..
During the Byzantine Period, Lefkada was part of the province of Achaia. Due to the strategically important position of the island, Lefkada became a victim of many attacks.
In the 6th century A.D., the island was included into the “Scheme of Kefalonia” while after a temporary overthrow by the crusaders it became part of the Dominion of Epirus.
In 1204, the Franks conquered Constantinople and Lefkada fell under their rule. |
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In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice and after the sign of the treaty of Kamboformio, Lefkada became part of the French State. Napoleon Bonaparte came on the island as a liberator and abolished the Noble’s privileges.
Two years later, in 1799, the fleet of the alliance of the Turks, the Russians and the English defeated the French and disembarked on Lefkada.
On March 1800, the “Ionian State” was established in Constantinople in order to create the Septinsular Republic, but the attempt failed in 1807 when the island was ceded to France again.
It was nevertheless a period of prosperity, with many agricultural improvements.
During this time, the English started occupying other Ionians Islands and finally occupied Lefkada in 1810. |
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