group of islands along the W coast of Greece, on the Ionian Sea: 891 sq mi (2,308 sq km); pop. 191,000
See Ionian Islands in American Heritage Dictionary 4
A chain of islands of western Greece in the Ionian Sea. Colonized by the ancient Greeks, the islands subsequently came under the rule of Rome, Byzantium, Venice, France, Russia, and Great Britain before being ceded to Greece in 1864.