Constructing Ionian identities: the Ionian Islands in British official ...

they adopted British models of business organisation by investing in joint-stock
companies, such as maritime insurance. 146 The commercial bourgeoisie rose up the
social ladder by marrying into impoverished noble households, allowing them to
obtain political power and secure their own participation in government. However,
they continued to believe in the distinctions of class in many social and economic
matters and became both supporters of the Protectorate and challengers of its
supremacy. 147
The contadini, urban commoners or artisans, occupied a place between the
commercial bourgeoisie and the peasantry. These popolari lived alongside the signori
within the city walls but were politically excluded and economically deprived. The
largest populace in the Islands, the native peasantry or villani, were the most
economically deprived, socially oppressed and politically excluded group in the
feudal, socio-economic structure of Ionian society. 148 They spoke only Greek in a
state where Italian was the official language and retained their customs and religion.
Although their situation improved under the British, they remained “a distinct, self-
sufficient popular culture…originally directing their protest not so much at the
government or the British, as at their local landlords and moneylenders - until the
political message of the radical-unionists led them to identify the two sources of
power”. 149
146 Gekas A. E., “The Commercial Bourgeoisie of the Ionian Islands Under British Rule, 1830-1864:
Class formation in a semi-colonial society”, (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Essex, 2004).
147 Yannopoulos G., “State and Society”, p. 49; Gekas A. E., “The Commercial Bourgeoisie of the
Ionian Islands Under British Rule”.
148 Calligas E., “The Rizospastai (Radicals-Unionists)”, p. 14.
149 Ibid., p. 15.
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