French Corse
Island (pop., 1999: 260,196) in the Mediterranean Sea and an administrative region of France.
The fourth largest island in the Mediterranean, it has an area of 3,352 sq mi (8,681 sq km). While remains of human occupation date from at least the 3rd millennium BC, recorded history begins с 560 BC, when Greeks from Asia Minor founded a town there. Taken by the Romans in the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, it, together with Sardinia , became a prosperous Roman province. Conquered later by several peoples, including Byzantines and Arabs, it was granted to Pisa in the 11th century AD. Later ruled mainly by Genoa through the mid-18th century, in 1768 it became a province of France. It was the birthplace of Napoleon . The island's economic life is based on tourism and agriculture.