[8] Pepin the Short, king of the Franks and Charlemagne's father, expelled the Lombards and nominally granted Corsica to Pope Stephen II.

[10] In 1553, a Franco-Ottoman fleet occupied Corsica, but the reaction of Spain and Genoa, led by Andrea Doria, reestablished the Genoese supremacy on the island, confirmed by the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis.

Their power reinstated, the Genoese did not allow the Corsican nobility to share in the government of the island and oppressed the inhabitants with a heavy tax burden.

On the other hand, they introduced the chestnut tree on a large scale, improving the diet of the population, and built a chain of towers along the coast to defend Corsica from the attacks of the Barbary pirates from North Africa.

In 1743, over 4,600 Corsicans, or 4% of the entire population of the island, were serving as soldiers in various armies (predominantly those of Genoa, Venice, and Spain), making it one of the most militarized societies in Europe.

Despite the presence of a middle class in Bastia and Ajaccio, Corsica remained an otherwise primitive place, whose economy consisted mainly of subsistence agriculture, and whose population constituted a pastoral society, dominated by clans and the rules of vendetta.

The reasons for that are manifold: the knowledge of the French language, which thanks to the mandatory primary school started to penetrate among the local youth, the high prestige of French culture, the awareness of being part of a big, powerful state, the possibility of well-paid jobs as civil servants, both in the island, in the mainland and in the colonies, the prospect of serving the French army during the wars for the conquest of the colonial empire, the introduction of steamboats, which reduced the travel time between mainland France and the island drastically, and – last but not least – Napoleon himself, whose existence alone constituted an indissoluble link between France and Corsica.

[22] Across the French Empire, many Corsicans retained a sense of community by establishing organizations where they would meet regularly, keep one another informed of developments in Corsica, and come to one another's aid in times of need.

[23] After the collapse of France to the German Wehrmacht in 1940, Corsica came under the rule of the Vichy French regime, which was collaborating with Nazi Germany.

[25] During the May 1958 crisis, the French military command in Algeria mutinied against the French Fourth Republic and on 24 May occupied the island in an action called Opération Corse that led to the collapse of the government; the second phase of the coup attempt, occupying Paris, was cancelled following the establishment of a transitional government under Charles de Gaulle.

[26] Between the late 1950s and the 1970s, proposals to conduct underground nuclear tests in the Argentella mines, the immigration of 18,000 former settlers from Algeria ("Pieds-Noirs") in the eastern plains, and continuing chemical pollution (Fanghi Rossi) from mainland Italy increased tensions between the indigenous inhabitants and the French government.

Tensions escalated until an armed police assault on a pieds-noirs-owned wine cellar in Aleria, occupied by Corsican nationalists on 23 August 1975.

[29] The August 2022 Corsica derecho swept across the island and killed six people, injured dozens of others, and caused significant damage.

[37] Below 600 metres (2,000 ft) is the coastal zone's mild Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.

This region supports diverse forests of oak, pine, and broadleaf deciduous trees, with vegetation more typical of northern Europe.

Other avian species to be seen include the barn owl, blue rock thrush, common crane, Corsican nuthatch, golden eagle, greater flamingo, osprey, peregrine falcon, red kite, and starry bittern.

[38] Corsica has abundant reptile and amphibians, one protected species being the sensitive Hermann's tortoise, which are found at A Cupulatta at Vero and Moltifao Regional Natural Park.

The island has a natural park (Parc Naturel Régional de Corse, Parcu di Corsica), which protects rare animal and plant species.

The park was created in 1972 and includes the Golfe de Porto, the Scandola Nature Reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and some of the highest mountains on the island.

Two endangered subspecies of hoofed mammals, the European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) and Corsican red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus) inhabit the park.

However, since the annexation of the island by France in the 18th century, Corsican has been under heavy pressure from French, and today it is estimated that only 10% of Corsica's population speak the language natively, with only 50% having some sort of proficiency in it.

[49] The Corsican language is divided into two main varieties: Cismuntanu and Ultramuntanu, spoken respectively northeast and southwest of the Girolata–Porto Vecchio line.

This division was due to the massive immigration from Tuscany which took place in Corsica during the lower Middle Ages: as a result, the Cismuntanu became very similar to the Tuscan dialects, being part of the Italo-Dalmatian language group, while the Ultramuntanu maintained its original characteristics which make it much more similar to a Southern Romance language, such as Sardinian (Sardu).

[50][51] Therefore, due to the differences between the main dialectal varieties, many linguists classify Corsican as an Italo-Dalmatian language,[52] while others consider it a Southern Romance one.

On 2 March 1982, a law was passed that gave Corsica the status of territorial collectivity (collectivité territoriale), abolishing the Corsican Regional Council.

[59] Corsica's main exports are granite and marble, tannic acid, cork, cheese, wine, citrus fruit, olive oil and cigarettes.

There was also the Eastern Coast Railway [fr] along the Tyrrhenian seacoast; that line was heavily damaged during World War II, and subsequently closed for good.

There is support on the island for proposals for greater autonomy, but polls show that a large majority of Corsicans are opposed to full independence.

[68][69] In 1972, the Italian company Montedison dumped toxic waste off the Corsican coast, creating what looked like red mud in waters around the island with the poisoning of the sea, the most visible effects being cetaceans found dead on the shores.

[77] On 16 March 2022, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, told regional newspaper Corse Matin before a two-day visit: "We are ready to go as far as autonomy – there you go, the word has been said.