Invasion of Corsica (1553) Invasion of Corsica (1553) The Invasion of Corsica of 1553 occurred when French, Ottoman and Corsican exile forces combined to capture the island of Corsica from the Genoese. The island had considerable strategic importance in the western Mediterranean, being at the heart of the Habsburg communication network and serving as a forced stopover for small boats sailing between Spain and Italy. The island had been administered since 1453 by the Genoese Bank of Saint George. The invasion of Corsica was accomplished for the benefit of France. The island had major strategic importance, as it was located on the sea route
History of Corsica would one day astonish Europe. This was written some seven years before Napoleon was born. The prehistory of Corsica covers the long period from the Upper Paleolithic to the first historical event, the founding of Aléria by the ancient Greeks in 566 BCE. The ancient Greeks, notably Herodotus, called the island Kurnos; the name Corsica is Latin and was in use in the Roman Republic. Why Herodotus used Kyrnos and not some other name remains a mystery, and the phrases of the authors give no clue. The Roman historians, however, believed Corsa or Corsica (rightly or wrongly they interpreted -ica