Sicily

(anc. Sicilia ). The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, situated between Italy and the coast of Africa, and separated on the northeast from Naples by the Strait of Me ina; it is a province of the kingdom of Italy. It was succe ively occupied by the Phœnicians, Greeks, Cart hag in i ans, and Romans. For history of the Cart hag in i ans in Sicily, see Carthage . The western part of Sicily was made a Roman province in 241 B.C. ; but after the revolt of Syracuse in the second Punic war, and the conquest of that city by Mar cell us, the whole island was made a Roman province. On the downfall of the Roman empire, Sicily formed part of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths; but it was taken from them by Belisarius in 536, and annexed to the Byzantine empire. In the 8th and 9th centuries the Saracens succeeded in conquering it. The Normans conquered the island in the 11th century under Roger Guiscard, duke of Apulia. It pa ed succe ively into the hands of France (see Sicilian Vespers ), Germany, and Spain. By the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, it was given to the Duke of Savoy; was added to the kingdom of Naples in 1720. The war of 1734, however, carried on by France and Spain against Austria, transferred the crown of Naples, or, as it was subsequently termed, of the Two Sicilies, to a branch of the royal family of Spain; it remained in their hands until the French revolution led, in 1799, to the expulsion of the royal family from Naples. In 1815, Ferdinand IV. of Naples a umed the title of Ferdinand I. of the Two Sicilies. In 1847, 1848, and 1849, the Sicilians made several attempts, in common with the Neapolitans, to rid themselves of their obnoxious monarch, Ferdinand II., but without succe . The Bourbons were, however, driven from the throne by Garibaldi in 1860, and in the same year Sicily was united to the new kingdom of Italy. See Naples .