Before Napoleon decided to invade Egypt, many Europeans were still making their living in the Levant.
The French had dominated trade in the Levant for nearly a century. Even when news arrived that Louis XVI had been beheaded, aside from a few French merchants expressing their grief, nothing in their lives was affected.
In 1797, France gained the Ionian Islands by signing the Treaty of Campo Formio, and Sultan Selim III sensed that something was amiss. A few months before Napoleon was due to set sail, the vast French corps of experts and advisers in Turkey, Greece, Syria, and the surrounding regions received orders to pack their bags and return home. Yet the overwhelming majority of them did not return to France, instead remaining in the Ionian Islands.
After the French withdrew from Egypt, the British and Turks swiftly occupied this vacuum of power. For the Ottoman Empire, this was the best opportunity to reshape the Egyptian province.
However, the British did not trust the Turks, and they also feared that Napoleon might try to retake Egypt. They therefore attempted to restore the powerful Mamluk families, pressuring the Ottomans to pardon those beys seeking to restore their families.
The Ottomans had no desire to do so, but in the end they yielded. The French on the Ionian Islands were not cut off from the world. As elsewhere, theaters became crucial places for socializing and spreading news. Although the authorities did everything in their power to let the residents experience "an age of Greek freedom," all manner of disturbances broke out in the theaters. To maintain order, the chief of police had to issue codes of conduct in Greek, Italian, and French, banning smoking, swearing, and carrying weapons in theaters.
The Ionian Islands were also known as the Garden of the