Corsica: Un Paradoxe Français - La Géographie Quiz

Answer: Nice, the French port from which most ships to Corsica travel.

This is the first in a double-header quiz about the island of Corsica. This quiz will cover the Geography and culture of the area. The second quiz will cover the politics.

Although Corsica is generally considered to be a region under the complete control of France, it is in fact a territorial collectivity, and therefore has the same status as other French dependencies such as Mayotte and Saint Pierre et Miquelon. The exact logistics of this, however, will be covered in more depth in my quiz about Corsican politics. The only real difference is that, at a mere 105 miles from the mainland, the distance of Corsica from its ruling country paltry compared to France's other overseas dependencies.

With an area of 3,350 square miles, Corsica stretches from Cape Corse in the north to Cape Pertusato in the south. Just for kicks, you might be interested to know that the distance between these two points is 115 miles (or 185 kilometres.) The capital, Ajaccio (also known as Ajax due to its Latin name) is found on the west of the island, in the department of Corse du Sud. The northern department of the island, Haute-Corse, is much less densely inhabited that the south but contains major towns such as Corte (in the mountainous regions) and Bastia (a port town.)

Answer: "L'île de Beauté" - The Island of Beauty

The island of Corsica has also been known as "the scented isle", or "l'île parfumée" in French. With a static population of around 261,000 residents, Corsica sees around 2,000,000 tourists per year, and the vast majority of these are French. The rather unspoilt appearance of Corsica has also led to the nickname "jewel of the Ligurian Sea" being used. With its 650-mile (1,000km) littoral, Corsica also boasts around 20% of France's coastline.

The various pet names given to the island by France are a clear indication of the ecological state of the island. The lush, dense forests of acacia, holly oak, and chestnut trees along with vast floral fields filled support many rare faunae that can only be found on Corsica. The nickname of "the scented isle" comes from a certain type of thick undergrowth unique to Corsica. This thick undergrowth is known as "maquis", and is made up of a variety of sweet smelling plants, which include lavender, myrtle, and heather. It is, in its way, the Corsican equivalent of the South African "feinbos". The maquis is famous for something a little more salacious than the heady scents, though.

In Corsica, to escape government persecution, one didn't head for the hills. One headed for the maquis. Here, fugitives could happily bed down with very limited intervention from other fugitives, and there was little threat of being found and captured!

Answer: The 1,600ft "Lava Pass", with its giant granite cliffs.

Travelling from the imposing white cliffs of Bonifacio, up the West Coast towards the Scandola nature reserve near Girolata, the fjord-like landscape is certainly something to be seen. Just before you get to the gulf of Porto, you reach the Lava Pass. This giant granite formation was caused by glaciation of the granite backbone of the island, and is one of the largest and most impressive igneous valleys in Corsica.

The basic geology of Corsica is rather interesting also, and has directly caused the interesting differences in landscape that can be found on the island. The main granite spine of the island (the highest point of which is the 9,000 foot high Monte Cinto) was created 250 million years ago, when tectonic plate movement caused the igneous rocks to be thrown up from the seabed to form the mountainous island centre. Around 200 million years ago, the same geological movement that formed the European Alps also caused masses of sedimentary rock to be thrust towards the eastern coast of Corsica. The pressure of such a thrust caused the sediments to form hard, metamorphic rocks (predominantly schists) on the east of the island, forming the flatter, more arable land around Castagniccia today.

Finally, the glaciation of the island, aided by the heavy precipitation that the island encountered throughout its formative years, caused much erosion. This formed the deep, parallel valleys that now litter the island. Of course, these valleys are continuously eroded by the rivers that drop steeply to the coast in the west. In the east, the rivers drop in a similar way, but into schist rock-beds, therefore the valleys being formed are much less pronounced on this side of the island. And so, Corsica is in my opinion one of the most interesting geological masses in the Mediterranean!

Answer: True

It's not only the casual visitor that may find themselves constricted to their current destination - the people of the island also tend to stay at home. The deep, green valleys that pepper the mountainous landscape of Corsica in a herringbone formation have been constantly inhabited for centuries with little movement of families between valleys. After all, over 80% of the island is high, mountainous, and semi-uninhabitable. The rivalries between the families that inhabited adjacent valleys are so famous, that the Corsu language has made a prime contribution to the world of lexicography.

And that word? Vendetta. The word is thought to have come about when Coricans clans took the law into their own hands, seeking retribution quickly without the help of the French or Italian legal systems, which were often slow and unsatisfying. Blood feuds of revenge, or vendettas, therefore became commonplace. Today, however, you would be hard pushed to find a resident who even remembers what the vendetta was about!

This, however is not the only landscape or lifestyle that can be found on the island. For such a small outcropping, Corsica offers everything for the tourist - beaches, semi-desert regions, alpine forests, and country walks are almost "layered" on the island, and are said to resemble the "fromage de brebis" pastry that is served to many visitors. What is this pastry, you ask? Why, it's just ewe's milk cheese served in layered sheets of filo pastry. Sounds good to me.

Answer: "Bonghjornu, cumu va?"

The language of Corsica, know locally as Corsu, resembles the dialect of the Italian region of Tuscany in many ways. Many of the older residents of Corsica will have actually learned Corsu before French, so important to the islanders is this language. A similar language is also spoken in the Gallura area of Sardinia, but these languages are so similar to the language spoken in Tuscany that most linguists consider Corsu to be a Tuscan dialect.

Sadly, Corsu has be declared by UNESCO as in danger of extinction. In recent years, the topic of conservation for Corsu has been raised by Corsican officials, in conjunction with talks regarding greater autonomy for Corsica. Hopefully, this unusual and interesting Romance language can be saved.

Just for the sake of interest, here is the Corsu alphabet. Note the unusual letter combinations that constitute single sounds, and the lack of some letters that are common in other European languages.

A, B, C, Chj, D, E, F, G, Ghj, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z.

Answer: The rule of Genoa, which lasted in Corsica for almost 500 years.

Annexed by mother France in 1769, Corsica is today France's smallest administrative region, but it wasn't always this way.

Over the centuries, Corsica has been home to Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, and even the Moors, but it was the rule of Genoa that lasted the longest. The island was influenced by the nation of Carthage until it became dominated and ruled by Rome for around 600 years. Corsica was then conquered by the Moors, then the Byzantines, and finally came under control of Genoa. Because of its position (56 miles from Italy, 105 miles from Monaco, and 106 miles from France), Corsica was a prize hotly contested by many European and North African civilisations over the past 3000 years.

The rule of Genoa began following a victory at the Battle of Meloria, against the house of Pisa. At the time, Genoa was an independent city-state in Italy. A so-called "Maritime Republic", this city-state not only had control of Corsica, but of most of the Tyrhennian region, including Liguria and Sardinia. The remnants of the Genoan rule in Corsica can still be seen today, with the impressive citadel of Bonifacio being a prime example. Great stone bridges and a series of around 100 Genoan watchtowers also encircle the island, showing just how intent Genoa was on keeping hold of Corsica! All of these could be considered rather impressive feats by Genoa, which is today an average sized city on the northern Italian coast!

Answer: The Chestnut Trees - Castagniccia comes from the Corsu word for "Chestnut".

The Castagniccia region of Eastern Corsica covers the lower mountains and comparatively bountiful flat land that can be found in and around the town of Sermano.

Castagniccia was the home of the infamous General Pascal Paoli, and to this day, he is one of the most famous children of the region. At the entrance to the region, the village of Morosaglia still pays homage to Paoli, and even has a museum dedicated to him. Why Pascal Paoli, you ask? Well, between 1755 and 1769, Corsica enjoyed a relatively violence-free period of self-rule under him. He wrote the first constitution for an independent Corsican nation, and even significantly influence the French and American revolutions with his radical ideas.

As mentioned in the answer, the region is named after the Corsu term for Chestnuts, although some will argue that the Corsu name was inspired by the French term "châtaigneraie". These words refer to the quasi-mythical chestnut plantations in the area, which still extend over thousands of hectares in Castagniccia.

Answer: It is the only UNESCO World Heritage site on the island.

Located near the west coast towns of Girolata and Porto, the Golfé de Porto and Scandola peninsula are the homes to many kinds of rare flora and fauna, such as the Corsican red deer and the mouflon. Although both of the areas that combined to make the Parc Naturel Régional de Corse are of equal importance, only Scandola is a UNESCO heritage site.

The entire area is cordoned off and cannot be accessed by foot, so to visit the area, the tourist must use one of the provided methods of entry such as a boat. The two rare hoofed animals that live within the park, the mouflon and the Corsican red deer, have been on the island since the Neolithic period, but have been restricted to the nature reserve due to the rapid development and industrialisation of the island. Just as a curious aside, you might be interested to know that the Corsican red deer is the smallest of the Cervus elaphus (red deer) species.

The Scandola peninsula nature reserve is made up itself of three smaller nature reserves. These are the Calanche of Piana, the Gulf of Girolata, and the Reserve de Scandola. Announced as a UNESCO heritage site in 1983, the area is known as an outstanding example of the Corsican "maquis" scrubland with a host or rare marine birds and a rich marine life. Interestingly, this reserve is the only UNESCO heritage site in the whole of France, and therefore is to be protected vigorously.

Answer: Odysseus

In book ten of Homer's "Odyssey", Odysseus's crew moored their black sails in the mysterious Mediterranean port of the Laestryogians, a dock area and the only entrance between two headlands. In the legend, Odysseus and his crew were intending to visit Telepylos, king of the Laestrygonians. His men docked their ships in the bay, but instead, Odysseus docked his on a rock outside of the bay climbed to the top of a high rock. Seeing nothing but smoke rising from the ground, Odysseus sent three of his crew to investigate the Leastrygonian people.

The three crewmen came across a young girl who led them to a house in a small village. Within the house, they found a gigantic woman who promptly called her husband Antiphates from the village. The giant Antiphates began eating one of the crewmen, and as the other two ran back towards their ships, Antiphates let out a cry and the crewmen were followed back to the bay by hordes of giants. Only Odysseus and a small group managed to flee the land, as he had docked his boat outside of the bay - the rest of the crewmen were trapped and killed.

Bonifacio, of course, is a much prettier town today than the legend recounts. Although the port fits in with the description given in the book, the town itself is quite different. The immense chalk cliffs that surround this most interesting of citadels (complete with a vast graveyard and foreign legion fort), make the town both fascinating and important to the people of Corsica and tourists. Of course, with Bonifacio being one of the biggest settlements and one of the major ports of the island, many people visit and remain unaware of the rather seedy mythical past of the area!

Answer: Napoleon, born in Ajaccio.

Born in 1769 on the western side of the island, this infamous "Frenchman" was a resident of the town that is also known as Ajax (due to its Latin name). Although Napoleon was born on the island, he did not return to Corsica after his birth, and went on to become the most powerful man in France. Perhaps it would be a bit redundant to mention more about the man himself in a quiz dedicated to Corsica? Well, I'll just pick out some of the most interesting facts about him.

Born to an impoverished family of pseudo-aristocrats, Napoleone Buonaparte was one of eight children in a family that barely had enough funds to survive each winter. His father Carlo, though Corsican by heritage, readily gave himself over to French rule when his native island was invaded. This was something that Napoleone never forgave his father for. His mother, Letizia, was a hardened woman who reportedly punished her children to show them the arts of discipline and sacrifice. But when Carlo became a representative of the Corsican parliament and travelled to Versailles, he soon fell in love with France and secured a place for the then nine-year-old Napoleone in the private Brienne Academy.

From this academy, Napoleone began rising through the army ranks from the age of 15, and at 23 returned to Corsica to head the political party opposing Pascal Paoli. He quickly became so hated by his own people that he was banished from Corsica and went on to be the leader of the country he hated so as a child. It was then that he began to be known as Napoleon Bonaparte, a much more Gallic moniker.

And no, there is no proof that Napoleon died from syphilis or even had it, so let me burst your bubble right there. The cause of death given on his death certificate is stomach cancer, although many historians believe now that it may have been arsenic poisoning. I shall leave you to ponder over that one while you wait for the next instalment of the Corsica series.

Cheers for playing. It means a lot.

Flynn



Sources of information:

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte
http://www.directcorsica.com/owners/SpecialInterest/DiscoverCastagniccia.htm
National Geographic - April 2003