Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is one of the Ionian Islands in western Greece, and the northernmost island on Greece's west coast except for its satellite Diapontian Islands, which are also the westernmost point of all Greece. Corfu and the Diapontian Islands mark the International Hydrographic Organization border between the Ionian Sea to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the north. Within the Ionian Islands region, the regional unit of Corfu extends as far south as the Paxoi. The capital and largest city of the regional unit is also named Corfu.
The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology, and is marked by numerous battles and conquests. Ancient Korkyra took part in the Battle of Sybota, which was a catalyst for the Peloponnesian War, and, according to Thucydides, the largest naval battle between Greek city-states until that time. Thucydides also reports that Korkyra was one of the three great naval powers of Greece in the fifth century BCE, along with Athens and Corinth.Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.36.3 Ruins of ancient Greek temples and other archaeological sites of the ancient city of Korkyra are located in Palaiopolis. Medieval castles, scattered across the island, are a legacy of struggles against invasions by pirates and the Ottomans. Two of these castles enclose its capital, which is the only city in Greece to be surrounded in such a way. As a result, Corfu's capital has been officially declared a ('castle city') by the Greek government.
From medieval times and into the 17th century, the island, as part of the Republic of Venice since 1204, successfully repulsed the Ottomans during several sieges, was recognised as a bulwark of the European States against the Ottoman Empire, and became one of the most fortified places in Europe. The fortifications of the island were used by the Venetians to defend against Ottoman intrusion into the Adriatic. In November 1815 Corfu came under British rule following the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1864 was ceded to modern Greece by the British government along with the remaining islands of the United States of the Ionian Islands under the Treaty of London. Corfu is the origin of the Ionian Academy, the first university of the modern Greek state, and the Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù, the first Greek theatre and opera house of modern Greece. Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of independent Greece after the revolution of 1821, founder of the modern Greek state, and a distinguished European diplomat, was born in Corfu.
In 2007, the city's old town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, following a recommendation by ICOMOS. The 1994 European Union summit was held in Corfu. The island is a popular tourist destination.Duncan Garwood, Mediterranean Europe, 2009Russell King, John Connell, Small worlds, global lives: islands and migration, 1999
Name The Greek name, or , is related to two powerful water deities: Poseidon, god of the sea, and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopos and river nymph Metope, and abducted her. Poseidon brought Korkyra to the hitherto unnamed island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place: Korkyra, which gradually evolved to (Doric). They had a child, Phaiax, after whom the inhabitants of the island were named Phaiakes ). Corfu is known as the island of the Phaeacians.
The name is a Venetian and Italian version of the , meaning 'city of the peaks'. It derives from the Byzantine Greek () (crests or peaks), denoting the two peaks of Palaio Frourio.
Geography
Corfu is located in the northwestern corner of Greece. The northeastern edge of Corfu lies off the coast of Sarandë, Albania, separated by straits varying in width from . The southeast side of the island lies off the coast of Thesprotia, Greece. Its shape resembles a sickle ( ), to which the ancients compared it. With the island's area estimated at , it runs approximately long, with greatest breadth at around .
Two high, well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts: the northern is mountainous, the central undulating, and the southern low-lying. The more important of the two ranges, that of Pantokrator ( – the Almighty) stretches east and west from Cape Falacro to Cape Psaromita, and attains its greatest elevation in the summit of the same name.
The second range culminates in the mountain of Santi Jeca, or Santa Decca, as it is known, which derives its name from the Greek () or the Ten Saints. The whole island, composed as it is of various limestone formations, presents a great diversity of surface. Beaches are found in Agios Gordis, the Korission Lagoon, Agios Georgios, Marathia, Kassiopi, Sidari, Palaiokastritsa, and many others. Corfu is located near the Kefalonia geological fault; earthquakes have occurred there.
Corfu's coastline spans including capes; its highest point is Mount Pantokrator (); and the second Stravoskiadi, at . The full extent of the capes and promontories includes Agia Aikaterini, Drastis to the north, Lefkimmi and Asprokavos to the southeast, and Megachoro to the south. Two islands are also found at the midpoint between Gouvia and Corfu Bay, which extends across much of the eastern shore of the island, and are known as Lazareto and Ptychia (or Vido).
Diapontia Islands
The Diapontia Islands (Greek: ) are located in the northwest of Corfu, (6 km away) and about from the Italian coast. The main islands are Othonoi, Ereikoussa and Mathraki.
Lazaretto Island
Lazaretto Island, formerly known as St. Dimitrios, is located off the coast northeast of the city Corfu. Lazaretto has an area of and comes under the administration of the Greek National Tourist Organization. During Venetian rule in the early 16th century, a monastery was built on the islet, and a leprosarium was established later in the century, after which the island was named. In 1798, during the French occupation, the islet was occupied by the Russo-Turkish fleet, who ran it as a military hospital. During the period of British rule, in 1814, the leprosarium was once again opened after renovations, and following Enosis in 1864 the leprosarium again saw occasional use. During World War II, the Axis occupation of Greece established a Nazi concentration camp there for the prisoners of the Greek resistance, while remaining today are the two-storeyed building that served as the Headquarters of the Italian army, a small church, and the wall against which those condemned to death were shot.
Climate Corfu has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) featuring hot, dry summers and mild to cool, very rainy winters, which are much wetter than other Greek islands. The highest temperature ever recorded is on 24 July 2007 while the lowest is on 17 January 2012.
Biodiversity Flora Homer identifies six plants that adorn the garden of Alcinous: wild olive, pear, pomegranate, apple, fig and grape vine. Of these, the apple and the pear are very inferior in Corfu; the others thrive, together with all the fruit trees known in Southern Europe, with addition of the kumquat, loquat and prickly pear and, in some spots, the banana. Olive trees dominate, and their combination with cypress trees composes the typical Corfiot landscape. When undisturbed by cultivation, the high maquis is the major natural vegetation type, followed by deciduous oak forests and, to a lesser extent, pine forests. In total, more than 1800 plant species have been recorded.Panitsa, M. & E. Iliadou 2013: Flora and Phytogeography of the Ionian Islands (Greece). 2nd Botanical Conference in Menorca.
Fauna Corfu is a continental island; its fauna is similar to that of the mainland and includes a diverse range of species, from mammals and birds to reptiles and marine life. Notable mammals include foxes, hares, weasels, hedgehogs, and otters, with jackals previously present but now likely extinct. The island also boasts diverse birdlife, including eagles, widgeons, coots, and kingfishers, as well as unique insects like the hummingbird hawk-moth. Freshwater terrapins and bullfrogs are found in wetland areas, and the loggerhead sea turtle nests on the beaches.
Birds Avifauna is extensive, with around 300 bird species recorded since the 19th century. Species vary in size from the greater flamingo to the goldcrest.Gasteratos, I. unpublished data. Some species have become extinct, such as the rock partridge and the grey partridge, or no longer breed on the island, like the eastern imperial eagle, the white-tailed eagle, the Bonelli's eagle, the griffon vulture and the Egyptian vulture.Γαστεράτος Ι. 2020: Τα Πουλιά των Προστατευόμενων Περιοχών της Κέρκυρας. Διημερίδα 'Οι Προστατευόμενες Περιοχές του Φορέα Διαχείρισης Καλαμά – Αχέροντα – Κέρκυρας' 24-25/1/2020.Γαστεράτος, Ι. 2019: Αλλαγές σε οικοσυστήματα της Κέρκυρας. Κάποια παραδείγματα. Επιστημονικό – Εκπαιδευτικό Συνέδριο 'Βιοποικιλότητα – Κλιματική αλλαγή και επιπτώσεις της σε νησιωτικά οικοσυστήματα.' Κέρκυρα 6-8/3/2020.
Mammals Around 40 species of mammals live on the island and in the sea around it. Fin whales, sperm whales, Cuvier's beaked whales, common bottlenose dolphins, short-beaked common dolphins, striped dolphins and Risso's dolphins are the regularly present cetaceans.Frantzis, A. 2009: Cetaceans in Greece: Present status of knowledge. Initiative for the Conservation of Cetaceans in Greece. Monk seals appear from time to time without breeding there anymore. Eurasian otters still survive in the lagoons and streams of Corfu.Ruiz-Olmo, J. 2006: The Otter (Lutra lutra L.) on Corfu Island (Greece): Situation in 2006. IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull. 23: 17-25.Roberts, G. 2022: Otter survey of the island of Corfu 2021. OTTER, Journal of the International Otter Survival Fund 2022: 39-42. The golden jackal was very common till the 1960s, but after persecution it became extinct, with the last individuals observed in the first half of the 1990s.Gasteratos, I. & Z. Fondoulakou 2018: The presence and the extinction of the Golden Jackal Canis aureus from the Island of Corfu, northwestern Greece. Conference: 2nd International Jackal Symposium: Marathon, Greece. Recent sightings indicate a recolonization effort from the nearby mainland. Wild boars were seemingly exterminated after 2000, when farmers complained about crop damage, but they have since recolonized Corfu by swimming from the mainland, while some may have escaped from captivity, creating a growing population.Gasteratos, I. & Z. Fondoulakou 2025: Wild Boars on Corfu Island… it’s complicated. 16th International Congress on the Zoogeography and Ecology of Greece and Adjacent Regions (ICZEGAR) Red foxes, beech martens, least weasels, European hares, northern white-breasted hedgehogs are quite widespread, as some of the smaller mammals like the European edible dormouse, the hazel dormouse, the house mouse, the yellow-necked mouse, the western broad-toothed field mouse, the wood mouse, the lesser white-toothed shrew, the etruscan shrew, as well as several species of bats.Hanák, V., Benda, P., Ruedi, M., Horacek, I. & T.S. Sofianidou 2001: Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Eastern Mediterranean. Part 2. New records and review of distribution of bats in Greece. Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae 65: 279-346.Life GRECABAT: Κατάλογος σπηλαίων με εποχές παρουσίας σημαντικών αποικιών (accessed in: 28/4/2021). Coypus, fallow deer, red deer, Indian crested porcupines, Siberian chipmunks, and raccoons have been observed recently. Still, they are escapees, and only the coypu and the raccoon have established viable populations.Stille, M., Gasteratos, I. & B. Stille 2021: Alien and invasive terrestrial vertebrate species on Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Journal of Vertebrate Biology 70(1): 1-13.
Amphibians and reptiles