Total population | |
---|---|
400,000 (estimate) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Corsica | ~ 322,120 (inhabitants of Corsica, regardless of ethnicity) 181,354 (people born in Corsica) |
Languages | |
French • Corsican • Ligurian | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Roman Catholic | |
Related ethnic groups | |
French and Italians | |
aCorsicans in Puerto Rico, bCorsicans in Venezuela |
The Corsicans (Corsican, Italian and Ligurian: Corsi; French: Corses) are the native people and ethnic group originating in Corsica, a Mediterranean island and a territorial collectivity of France.
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. An important megalithic tradition developed locally since the 4th millennium BC. Reached, like Sardinia, by Polada culture influences in the Early Bronze Age, in the 2nd millennium BC Corsica, the southern part in particular, saw the rise of the Torrean civilization, strongly linked with the Nuragic civilization.
The Corsican people are named after a people known by the Romans as Corsi. The Corsi, who gave their name to the island and dwelt also in Northeastern Sardinia (Gallura). The Corsi were formed by several tribes that dwelt in Corsica island (Ptolemy, Geography), namely the Belatones (Belatoni), Cervini, Cilebenses (Cilibensi), Cumanenses (Cumanesi), Licinini, Macrini, Opini, Subasani, Sumbri, Tarabeni, Titiani, and the Venacini. In the far north-east of the island of Sardinia there were tribes that also belonged to the Corsi, they dwelt at the extreme north-east of Sardinia and were composed of the Lestricones / Lestrigones (Lestriconi / Lestrigoni); Longonenses (Longonensi). These Corsi shared the island with the Tibulati, who dwelt at the extreme north of Sardinia near the ancient town of Tibula.