History
The origin of the name Corsica is subject to much debate and remains a mystery. To the Ancient Greeks was known as Kalliste, Cyrnos, Cernealis, Corsis or Cirné.
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 incorporated by the Roman Republic 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 the temporal power of the papacy.
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-Ottoman alliance in the Invasion of Corsica (1553).
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