The coin celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Union of the Ionian Islands with Greece.

The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece, traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e. "the Seven Islands". From 1204, the Republic of Venice controlled Corfu and slowly all the Ionian islands fell under Venetian rule. In 1797 Napoléon Bonaparte conquered Venice, and by the Treaty of Campo Formio the islanders found themselves under French rule. In 1809, the British defeated the French fleet in Zakynthos (October 2, 1809) captured Kefallonia, Kythera and Zakynthos, and took Lefkada in 1810.