Lefkada History

Ulysses led the brave Cephallenians, who held Ithaca, ... rugged Aegilips, ..., with the mainland also that was over against the islands. These were led by Ulysses, peer of Jove in counsel, and with him there came twelve ships. (Homer's Iliad; Written 800 B.C.E. Translated by Samuel Butler)

In its earliest recorded history, the island was settled by the Corinthians around 640 BC, though the island had been inhabited since the Neolithic period.  Proof of this we have from Homer's Iliad (see intro text above) where Aegilips, as we learn from Dictionary-Geographical: Abae to Byzeres, Greek Mythology Link is Lefkada "... Aegilips, which was under the rule of Odysseus at the time of the Trojan War, was perhaps a place in the former peninsula and now island of Lefkas".  

When the Corinthians colonized the land, they first worked on its fortifications.  This was when the channel was dug and the island was separated and “created” from the mainland.  They also built a fortress on the northern tip of the island overlooking the newly formed channel, to further protect the island.  Throughout its early history, the island changed hands many times:  Macedonians, Romans (and the famous Battle of Aktium), Byzantium, Franks (when the fortress of Santa Maura was built in the 13th century), Turks in 1479, Venetians in 1684, the French in 1797, and the English in 1815.  In 1864, Lefkas or Lefkada became a part of the Greek Republic.