A chain of forty mountainous islands lying off the W. coast of Greece, the largest being Corfu, Santa Maura, Cephalonia, and Zante. The climate is good, and there is much fertile soil in the valleys except in Cephalonia; corn, grapes, and currants are grown; sulphur and coal are found in Corfu; their history has been very chequered; after belonging at different times to Venice, France and Turkey, they were seized by Britain and constituted a dependency in 1815; never satisfied with British rule, they were a source of constant friction which Mr. Gladstone's mission in 1858 was insufficient to allay, and were handed over to Greece in 1863.