Archaeological excavations have proved that the island
was inhabited since the Palaeolithic Era (7th- 4th centuries
BC) and that during this period Corfu was a very important
commercial centre which inhabitants were the Phoenicians.
The Eretreans from Evia were the first Greek settlers
of the island, moving there during the 8th century; they
were followed by a group of refugees from Corinth who
founded a colony on Corfu.
The town of the island, that was already the capital,
was trading with all the towns of the Adriatic Sea, becoming
an important commercial centre, a strong naval power,
an important colonial town and became independent from
Corinth; since then, the two powerful towns entered in
competition and many conflicts took birth from this.
Corfu asked help from the Athenians during one important
battle against Corinth; the Athenian support was one of
the many cause of the Peloponnesian Wars.
 The
alliance between Corfu Town and Athens lasted for a century,
until the Macedonians (under the rule of Philip II), having
won an important battle in 338 BC, conquered Corfu and
put it under their protection.
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roads, and public buildings including bath houses. In 40 AD, Jason
and Sossipatros, two disciples of Saint Paul, brought
Christianity on the island and built the first Christian
church which they dedicated to Saint Stephan.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was divided into
the Western and Eastern Empires; the last one became the
Byzantine Empire where the island of Corfu belonged.
During the Byzantine period, which lasted until 1267 AD,
Corfu was regularly subject to pirate raids and to attacks
from barbarians, Goths or Saracens. Then Corfu came under
Norman rule, followed by Venetian one.
In 1267, Charles of Anjou, French King of Sicily, took
the island and attempted to replace the existing Orthodox
religion by the Catholic one; the Christian Orthodox
were persecuted and all the church converted to Catholic
churches.
But the attempt of conversion fell and Corfu returned
under Venetian rule in 1386. Corfu stayed under Venetian
domination from 1386 to 1797 while the rest of Greece
was under Ottoman rule.
During Venetian times the island suffered from many pirate’s
attacks. It had a feudal organisation, being divided in
three classes: the nobles, the bourgeoisie and the commoners.
Many insurrections were exploding because of the exploitation
of the majority by the nobles; but those insurrections
were severely repressed.
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The
“Ionian State” was established from Constantinople in
order to create the Septinsular Republic
but this attempt failed and, in 1807, Corfu returned under
French domination.
The period that followed was a period of prosperity with
many agricultural and social improvements; it was then
that the Ionian Academy was founded, public services reorganised
and schools built.
In parallel, the English began to occupy the Ionian Islands
and reached Corfu in 1815, which they took under their
domination.
The period of English rule was a prosper period for Corfu
because the Greek language became official, new roads
were built, the water supply of the island was improved
as well as the educational system and the first Greek
University was founded in 1824.
Despite the fact that Corfu was never under the control
of the Turks, its inhabitants helped financially the rest
of Greece which was still under Ottoman rule, helping
them to prepare and realize the Greek Revolution.
In the 21st of May, 1864, the Ionian Islands (group of
which Corfu is part) became finally part of the new Greek
State.
During the 20th century, Corfu participated, with the
rest of Greece, in the two World Wars and suffered from
great damages: the Ionian Academy, the Library and the
Municipal Theatre were burnt and totally destroyed.
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Napoleon
Bonaparte conquered Venice and, in 1797, Corfu became
part of the French State; Napoleon came as a liberator
and publicly burnt the “Libro d’Oro” (Golden Book),
which was the book enumerating the privileges of
the Nobles. 
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