A strong and turbulent history +Added to my favoriteItem already present

Prehistory

Corsica was no doubt occupied by small groups starting in the 7th millennium BC. The fist known human is the "Lady of Bonifacio" (ca. 6570 BC). Man occupied the entire island during the Neolithic Era, developing agriculture and animal husbandry and organising villages. There were certainly regular contacts with the nearest Mediterranean coasts. A brilliant civilisation rose in the 3rd millennium. They knew how to cast copper, sculpted hundreds of menhirs (standing stones), some of which are veritable statues, and built huge stone constructions (castelli, torri). Everything points to an organised society, very close to the Sardinian Nuragic civilisation.

Antiquity

Corsican History begins with the arrival of the Greeks from Phocea, in 565 BC. They set up at Aleria (Alalia), planning to make it their principal centre in the West. In 540 they defeated a coalition of their neighbours, the Etruscans and Carthaginians, but their losses were such that they had to abandon part of their colony. Aleria remained a major hub with a mix of outside populations and "barbarian" Corsicans. The latter kept their way of life but were in contact with the major powers, supplying them with mercenaries. 
The strategic location of the island and the usefulness of its forests for shipbuilding made it a strategic stake in the Punic Wars. The Roman Conquest defeated the last resistance in 111. Colonies were then set up at Mariana and Aleria. While the new arrivals were moving into Corsica, Corsicans could be found throughout the Empire. The island was quickly Christianised, at least along the coasts.

Middle-Ages

After a series of invasions, Corsica was defended against the Moors by the Frankish kings and their vassals in Tuscany. The feudal lords of the island took part in the conflict between republics of Genoa and Pisa. After a period of Pisan domination, remembered as a period of peace and of artistic and cultural development, Genoa took over. The 14th century was a period of unrest, with the Giovannali heresy, then an anti-feudal revolution in 1358 under Sambucucciu d’Alandu. Under the threat of a return of the feudal lords, the Commune of Corsica "gave itself" by contract to Genoa, a major Mediterranean power at the time. The island was long divided between the feudal South and the more democratic North. It took centuries for Genoa to impose its law over the Cinarchesi Lords who dreamed of setting up a Corsican State with outside support. They were not done away with until the beginning of the 16th century, after waves of destruction that emptied part of the country of its inhabitants.

Genoese peace and revolutions

During this period, Genoa, which had controlled Bonifacio since 1195, built the present-day towns, at first populated with its own colonists, and set up a development programme. There appears to have been a certain degree of prosperity, but the ongoing dreams of freedom lent a Corsican patriotic slant to the French occupation of 1553, with the help of Condottiere Sampieru Corsu. When Genoa took the island back, Sampieru took up the struggle until his glorious death made him a symbol of the Corsican nation..Incapable of taking the island back, Genoa ceded it to France on 15 May 1768. The French monarchy had long been trying to control Corsica for strategic reasons. The Battle of Ponte Novu in 1769 shattered the organised resistance. Paoli went into exile in England, while the guerrilla movement continued until 1774.

Corsica, thrust back into the Ancien Régime, was a laboratory for the innovations planned for the entire Kingdom. The young men of the élite families studied in France, while the island was stripped of its schools; increasing taxes and the enfeoffment of community lands outraged the population. The Revolution of 1789 was understood by the Corsicans as France's rallying to the ideas that they had defended twenty years earlier. Enthusiastically, the island became part of the “French Empire" on 30 November 1789, while Paoli received a triumphant homecoming welcome and came back to power. But opposition was just around the corner: Paoli, accused of failure in the Sardinian expedition and summoned before the Convention, called on England for help. On 10 June, 1794, the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom was proclaimed: the island, with the King of England as its monarch, adopted its own constitution. This experiment lasted for two years: Paoli went back into exile and Napoleon Bonaparte's victories in Italy made it easy for the French to regain control in 1796. Genoa controlled Corsica unopposed for one hundred and fifty years. During this period, the Barbary Pirates started their raids, causing the ruin of entire regions and leading to the construction of a network of coastal towers. The "long 17th century" (1567 to 1729) was marked by strong demographic growth and development in trade and agricultural. Education made progress and a caste of rural élites was formed. 
Corsica in the 18th century was the last colonial subject of a worn-out republic. The élite, influenced by the Enlightenment, protested against the ineffective Genoese system. A revolution, which started as a revolt against taxation, progressively took form. Neither of the two sides was able to achieve military victory alone. The insurgents adopted a state system with a constitution, national anthem and flag: first under the German King Theodore of Neuhoff, then under the regime run by Pasquale Paoli starting in 1755. 
He set up a stable democratic power, controlling almost all of the island's territory, and launched a development policy for the economy (creation of a fleet and the port at Ile-Rousse) and culture (founding of the University). He put an end to the excesses of the traditional "vendetta" and spread the notion of the public good. The Constitution of 1755, which reaffirmed the people's right to liberty, served as a model around the world.

19th et 20th centuries

Despite certain attempts at development, the Empire was mainly a period of repression. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, a system of "clans" took shape: two parties, made up of village groups, came to the fore in their political commitment. Banditry reached new heights, and the island turned inward despite the progress made in the area of transportation. Secret societies continued to display the attachment of many Corsicans to Italy, where revolution was under way. The Second Empire, which offered careers outside the island, finally enabled Corsicans to become fully integrated into French society. The 19th century was a period of demographic growth (up to 340,000 inhabitants), but without the corresponding economic development. Massive emigration began toward France and its colonies, as well as toward Latin America. 
World War I was a terrible blow to the island, which was impoverished and overpopulated in comparison to its resources: 12,000 died and many emigrated. This disaster led to the first stirrings of nationalism, expressed by the review A Muvra. This current's close ties with Italian fascism discredited it. Occupied by the Italians in November 1942, Corsica chose France and, under communist leadership, liberated itself in September 1943.