Corsica has a population of 322,120 inhabitants (January 2013 estimate). At the 2011 census, 56.3% of the inhabitants of Corsica were natives of Corsica, 28.6% were natives of Continental France, 0.3% were natives of Overseas France, and 14.8% were natives of foreign countries. The majority of the foreign immigrants in Corsica come from the Maghreb (particularly Moroccans, who made up 33.5% of all immigrants in Corsica at the 2011 census), and from Southern Europe (particularly Portuguese, 22.7% of immigrants on the island), and Italians (13.7%). Italian was the official language of Corsica until the 9th of May of 1859, when it
Ancient Corsica the island is that the 1965 "Lexikon der Alten Welt" contained no article on Corsica, despite having articles for the other large Mediterranean islands - Crete, Sicily, Cyprus and Sardinia. Ancient Corsica The history of Corsica in ancient times was characterised by contests for control of the island among various foreign powers. The successors of the neolithic cultures of the island were able to maintain their distinctive traditions even into Roman times, despite the successive interventions of Etruscans, Carthaginians or Phoenicians, and Greeks. A long period of Roman rule was followed by renewed conflict for control of the island by