Mer-Égée

Mer-Égée (French: [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
1797–1798
Flag
The three departments of Greece
Status	Department of the French First Republic
Chef-lieu	Zakynthos 37.78°N 20.89°E / 37.78; 20.89
Official languages	French
Common languages	Greek
Government
• Commissioner	Chriseuil de Rulhière
Historical era	French Revolutionary Wars
• Treaty of Campo Formio	17 October 1797
• Establishment	7 November 1797
• Fall of Zakynthos	25 October 1798
• Official disbandment	25 March 1802
Preceded by Succeeded by Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands Septinsular Republic Pashalik of Yanina
Today part of	Greece

History

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 except Dragamesto that was captured by Ali Pasha, ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, 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	3 March 1799	Chriseuil Omer François de Rulhière

See also

• Department of Corcyre
• Department of Ithaque
• French rule in the Ionian Islands (1797–1799)
• Treaty of Campo Formio
• History of Zakynthos

References

• 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.