Corsica and killings culminated in the assassination of Prefect Claude Érignac in 1998. In 2013, Corsica hosted the first three stages of the 100th Tour de France, which passed through the island for the first time in the event's 110-year history. Corsica was formed about 250 million years ago with the uplift of a granite backbone on the western side. About 50 million years ago sedimentary rock was pressed against this granite, forming the schists of the eastern side. It is the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean, a "mountain in the sea". It is also the fourth largest island in
Invasion of Corsica (1794) was defeated by the British fleet at the Battle of Genoa, and for the remainder of the British occupation of the island French privateers and agents regularly landed on the coast. In the aftermath of the successful invasion of Corsica, developments focused on the island's capital Bastia, where a series of personal disputes threatened to derail the government of the island. First Stuart and Elliott engaged in a bitter squabble over control of the military forces on the island which eventually resulted in Stuart's resignation. At about the same time, Elliott was also engaged in preventing Paoli from enacting reprisals