Corsican Immigration To Puerto Rico - 19th Century Corsica

19th Century Corsica

Corsica is an island located west of Italy and southeast of France. Corsica belonged to the Republic of Genoa (before Genoa became part of Italy) and in 1768 was ceded to France to pay off debt. The island relied largely on its agricultural economy for survival.

Certain changes occurred in Europe during the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century that would greatly affect the lives of the French and the people of Corsica. One of those changes came about with the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution. With the Second Industrial Revolution, many of the people who worked in agriculture began to move to the larger cities with hopes of finding better jobs and better lives. Also, there was a widespread crop failure due to long periods of drought and crop diseases (e.g., the phylloxera epidemic destroyed the Corsican wine industry), cholera epidemic and a general deterioration of economic conditions. Thus, many of the farms in Corsica began to fail.

There was also widespread political discontent characterized by bitter armed conflict. King Louis-Philippe of France was overthrown in the Revolution of 1848 and a republic was declared with a Provisional Government. Three new political groups emerged during that era: they were the liberals, radicals and the socialists. The combination of man-made and natural disasters in Corsica created an acute feeling of hopelessness. All this came about at a time when Spain was growing fearful of the possibility of a rebellion in her Caribbean possessions, which consisted of Puerto Rico and Cuba.