The flag of the Ionian Islands contains elements which point to the former rulers of the islands. The upper quadrant shows the British Union Jack and the field the Lion of San Marco, reminders of the rule of Venice. The flag has its roots in the flag of the Republic of the Ionian Islands, a state that existed here from 1800 to 1807 for a short time under Russian sovereignty.
The Ionian Islands have their name from the Ionian Sea, on the eastern edge of which they lie. The Ionian Sea is a part of the Mediterranean Sea and lies between Greece, the south coast of Albania, Calabria, Apulia and Sicily. The sea has been given its name in ancient times, but it this way has been called then the today's Adriatic Sea. It was named after Io, the daughter of the Greek river-god Inachus, was one beloved of Zeus and is the mother of Epaphus. The name of the sea or the islands has nothing to do with the famous ancient people of the Ionians. They settled in the early days on the northern coast of the Peloponnese, but were expelled from the Heracleidae and Dorians to Attica and from there on to the western coast of Asia Minor, which therefore bears the name Ionia.
