Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia.is one of the 27 regions of France, although strictly speaking is designated as a territorial collectivity by law, it enjoys greater powers than other French regions, but for the most part its status is quite similar. Although the island is separatedfrom the continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea and is closer to Italy than to the French mainland, politically Corsica is part of Metropolitan France. It was once briefly an independent Corsican Republic, until being incorporated into France in 1769. Its culture has both French and Italian elements. Napoléon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, where his ancestral home is also located. Corsica isalso the birthplace of the singers Tino Rossi and Alizée.
Corsica has been occupied continuously since the Mesolithic era. It acquired an indigenous population that was influential in the Mediterranean during its long prehistory. After a brief occupation by the Carthaginians, colonization by the ancient Greeks and an only slightly longer occupation by the Etruscans it was preempted by the RomanRepublic and became with Sardinia a province of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century, the Roman Empire collapsed and the island was invaded by the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Saracens and the Lombards. Pepin the Short, king of the Franks and Charlemagne's father, expelled the invaders and granted Corsica to Pope Stephen II through the exarchate of Ravenna (756), which was the starting point of thetemporal power of the papacy.
The island, as with the rest of the Mediterranean, is influenced by the winds with the temperature moderated by the mountains. Average summer temperatures normally reach a very pleasant 25°C rising to as high as 35°C in July and August with sea temperatures reaching their peak by mid-July. In the early season the days are longer and the clear air means that the suncan be very hot, although the sea will not warm up until early June. At the end of the season the days will be shorter, but the sea remains warm enough to give comfortable swimming until mid-October. As a result, Corsica has a long holiday season.
The Genoese took possession of the island in 1347, and governed it until 1729 – interrupted only by a brief occupation by forces of a Franco-Ottomanalliance in the Invasion of Corsica (1553). In Corsica, vendetta was a social code that required Corsicans to kill anyone who wronged the family honor. It has been estimated that between 1683 and 1715, nearly 30,000 out of 120,000 Corsicans were killed in vendettas, and between 1821 and 1852, no fewer than 4,300 murders were perpetrated in there.
In 1729 the Corsican Revolution for independencebegan. After 26 years of struggle the independent Corsican Republic was formed in 1755 under the leadership of Pasquale Paoli and remained sovereign until 1769 when it was conquered by France. The first Corsican Constitution was written in Italian (the language of culture in Corsica until the end of the 19th century) by Paoli. He proclaimed that Italian was the official language of it. TheCorsican Republic was unable to eject the Genoese from the major coastal cities. Following French losses in the Seven Years War, Corsica was purchased by France from the Republic of Genoa in 1764. After an announcement and brief war in 1768–69 Corsican resistance was largely ended at the Battle of Ponte Novu. Despite triggering the Corsican Crisis in Britain, whose government gave secret aid, no foreignmilitary support came for the Corsicans. It was incorporated into France in 1770, marking the end of Corsican sovereignty. However, nationalist feelings still run high.
Following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Pasquale Paoli was able to return to Corsica from exile in Britain. In 1794 he invited British forces under Lord Hood to intervene to free Corsica from French rule....