ancient Heptanesos
Group of seven Greek islands (pop., 2001: 214,274) in the Ionian Sea.
They include Corfu , Cephalonia , Zacynthus, Leucas, Ithaca, Cythera, and Paxos and have a combined land area of 891 sq mi (2,307 sq km). Controlled by Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries, they were taken by Russian and Turkish forces in 1799. In 1815 the Treaty of Paris placed them under the control of Britain; the British ceded them to Greece in 1864.