History of Corsica

You're an amateur or passionate about history and you'd like to learn more about the history of Corsica? From Pascal Paoli to Napoleon Bonaparte discover the different figures and stages that have shaped the history of the Isle of Beauty

At first sight Corsican history is astonishing an initial impression more than confirmed by greater knowledge. A scattered population lived isolated lives in steep-sided valleys.

For many hundreds of years, roads being non-existent, these separate communities lived almost independently, in constant repetition of the daily chores of a pastoral society, interrupted only by the great annual event that brought them together, driving their flocks up to the mountains in summer.
All would have been peace, but that the island lay in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Island of strategic interest in the midst of the Western Mediterranean

Located off the Marches of northern Italy and those of southern France (Provence), the island lies in the way of sea traffic between Spain and North Africa, Greece and the Middle-East.

From time immemorial, Corsica was coveted by all major neighbouring (and sometimes distant) powers. It suffered incursions from Greeks, Etruscans, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Lombards, Saracens, Moors and Catalans, and by the armies of the citizen of Pisa, Genoa and Aragon.

Still later came outright invasion by major nations such as the Turks and French. Each of these larger or smaller forces sought with greater or lesser ambition to establish a hold on the island.

History fashioned by leading personalities

The invaders or incomers were generally opposed by the islanders.

Some locals however sought to turn foreign presence to their advantage and establish their own power.
Such were the Counts of Corsica, among them Arrigo bel Missere assassinated in the year 1000. His seven children were drowned in the Prunelli River.
Other such war-like leaders were Giudice di Cinarca (XIIIth century) and Sampiero Corso (XVIth century). Giudice and Sampiero were beheaded by the Genoese who came to be the dominant power in Corsica from the XIVth to the XVIIth centuries.

Outstanding personalities were Vincentello d'Istria, viceroy by the grace of the King of Aragon (1401-1434), who built the Citadel of Corte and was beheaded by the Genoese, like Sampiero who in 1553-54 took part in the first French expeditionary force to the island and battled vainly later to drive out the Genoese and unite the island (1564-67).

The great man is Corsican history is Pascal Paoli, Father of the Fatherland who founded the first Corsican State in the XVIIIth century (1755-69, and 1790-94). And then of course came Napoleon Bonaparte.