in 1802 the island became a part of france. following the treaty of fontainebleau, french emperor napoleon i was exiled to elba after his forced abdication in 1814 and arrived at portoferraio on may 3, 1814 to begin his exile there. he was allowed to keep a personal guard of six hundred men. napoleon stayed on elba for 300 days before he escaped and returned to france on february 26 for the hundred days. thanks to napoleon elba is well known around the world. in the congress of vienna the island was given to the grand duchy of tuscany. in 1860 it became part of the new unified kingdom of italy.