[13] The island was populated since the Mesolithic (Dame de Bonifacio) and the Neolithic by people who came from the Italian peninsula, especially the modern regions of Tuscany and Liguria.

According to Ptolemy, the Corsi were made up of a large number of tribes that dwelt in Corsica (namely the Belatones or Belatoni, the Cervini, the Cilebenses or Cilibensi, the Cumanenses or Cumanesi, the Licinini, the Macrini, the Opini, the Subasani, the Sumbri, the Tarabeni, the Titiani and the Venacini[18]) as well as in the far north-east of Sardinia (the Lestricones, Lestrigones or Lestriconi / Lestrigoni, the Longonenses or Longonensi).

According to several scholars, they may have been a group of tribes affiliated to the ancient Ligures, like the Ilvates in the neighboring Ilva island (today's Elba in Italy), and may have spoken the old Ligurian language.

In the Middle Ages, the local population of Corsica mixed with a minority of Greeks Byzantines, Germanic Ostrogoths , Franks and Lombards .

The indigenous population preferred to live in the central part of the island, which contributed to relative security and prevented them from mingling with foreigners.

Strabo says that when the Roman captains did some errands in Corsica and took a large number of slaves to Rome, one looked with admiration at the fact that the Corsicans were all savages and were more beast than man: for either they hunted each other to death in every way possible to them, or else they annoyed their masters so greatly with their impatience and lack of wit, that the said masters were angry for having put their money into it, although they would have cost them very little.

[21] At the end of the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the Renaissance, the Corsicans distinguished themselves in combat in many conflicts, many of them were then mercenaries (or Condottieri) and fought for sometimes rival Kingdoms.

Corsicans distinguished themselves in particular during the Battle of Lepanto alongside the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire , others were mercenaries in the service of the Kingdom of France (including Sampiero Corso who also served the Kingdom of Naples and returned to his native land with the support of France, Naplesand the Ottoman Empire to confront the Genoese occupiers).

[20] In subsequent centuries, Corsica was ruled and settled by Pisans (from 1050 to 1295) and the Genoese (from 1295 to 1755, when the island broke free from La Superba): this is reflected in the fact that around 80% of the modern Corsican surnames (Casanova, Luciani, Agostini, Colonna, Paoli, Bartoli, Rossi, Albertini, Filippi, Cesari, etc.

[30] Causes of this emigration are various; poverty is the main reason (the French laws for restriction of exportations, the Second Industrial Revolution and the agricultural crisis had an adverse effect on the local economy).

In the history of France, since the Conquest of Corsica, the Corsicans were the national ethnic group most involved in armed forces in proportion to their population.

The Corsicans have for a very long time, due to the absence of state and cult of honor, preferred to use the Vendetta in cases of dishonor of oneself or towards a member of one's family, or to avenge a murder committed by a reckless one.

To remove «l'ochju» you need a «signatore» (a kind of faith healer) who exorcise the affected person by dint of prayers and rituals.

[38] Gallurese dialect is a variety of Corsican[39][40][41][42] spoken in the extreme north of Sardinia, including the region of Gallura and the archipelago of La Maddalena.

In the Maddalena archipelago, the local dialect (called Isulanu, Maddaleninu, Maddalenino) was brought by shepherds from Alta Rocca and Sartène in southern Corsica during immigration in the 17th to 18th centuries.

[39][43] The January 2007 estimated population of the island was 281,000, while the figure for the March 1999 census, when most of the studies – though not the linguistic survey work referenced in this article – were performed, was about 261,000 (see under Corsica).

[37] The language appeared to be in serious decline when the French government reversed its non-supportive stand and began some strong measures to save it.

A variety of alcoholic drinks also exist, ranging from aquavita (brandy), red and white Corsican wines (Vinu Corsu), muscat (plain or sparkling), and the famous "cap corse" produced by Mattei.

Due to the culture of Vendetta, the presence of mafiosi of Corsican origin in 1920s-1990s, the hostility to the migration of non-Corsicans in Corsica and the multiple attacks in Corsica by local activists, the Corsicans have often been portrayed as a dangerous,[47] intimidating, racist[47] and criminal population by many individuals but also by states, notably the Republic of Genoa or the Kingdom of France.

[47] Genetic research has revealed that the Corsican samples presented affinities with people from the French region of Provence and the Italians from Tuscany, Liguria, Campania, Sicily and Latium.

Overall, the Corsican samples have been found to be genetically closer to the Northern and Central Italian populations than to the neighboring Sardinians.