Italy was divided into seven states and Italians were scattered over several dynasties as well as the multi-national Habsburg Empire. Only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house. Else the whole of Italy was ruled by small monarchies. The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the center was ruled by the Pope and the southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain. Even the Italian language did not have a complete unified form as there were many regional and local variations. Thus, Italy was politically fragmented. During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini sought to unify Italy into a Republic. Under the leadership of Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy was unified in 1861. And finally, Victor Emmanuel II became the king of unified Italy.
