Mer-Égée

Mer-Égée (pronounced [mɛʁ eʒe]; French for '"Aegean Sea"') was one of three short-lived French departments of Greece. 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.

Department of Mer-Égée

Département de Mer-Égée
1797–1802
The three departments of Greece
StatusDepartment of the French First Republic
Chef-lieuZakynthos
37.78°N 20.89°E / 37.78; 20.89
Official languagesFrench
Common languagesGreek
Government
• Commissioner
Chriseuil de Rulhière
Historical eraFrench Revolutionary Wars
18 October 1797
• Fall of Zakynthos
23 October 1798
• De facto end of the department
3 March 1799
• De jure end of the department
25 March 1802
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands
Septinsular Republic
Today part of

The department included the islands of Zante (Zakynthos), Kythira and the Strofades, as well as Dragamesto (modern Astakos) on the Greek mainland. Despite its name, the department was mostly not in the Aegean, but the Ionian Sea, apart from Kythira and its dependencies.

Its prefecture was at the town of Zante (Zakynthos). The territories were lost to Russia in 1798 and the department was officially disbanded in 1802.

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.

Administration

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 1799Chriseuil Omer François de Rulhière

See also

References
  1. Bellaire, J.P. (1805). Précis des opérations générales de la division française du Levant. Magimel & Humbert. p. 11.
  • de Rulhière, Chriseuil (1800–1801). Essai sur les isles de Zante, de Cerigo, de Cérigotto et des Strophades, composant le département de la Mer-Égée [Essay on the islands of Zakynthos, of Kythira, of Antikythira and the Strofades, forming the department of Mer-Égée] (in French). Paris: Dessenne.
  • 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.
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