Corsica [antikvár]

CORSICACorsica is the land of Culture. Because of her geographical position In the heart of the western Mediterranean and because of her dimensions 8762 square kilometers with 1000 kilometers of coastline it is the third largest island in that part of the world. Since the beginning of history, this particular land has thrived on exchange and confrontation. The source of Corsica's originality is found in the constant adaptation of man to his natural evironment and in the constraints imposed due to the appetites of numerous foreign powers.Geographical DescriptionThe island of Corsica is a mountain. According to the traditional legend, her name derives from this aspect, differentiating her from her immediate neighbors. This fact is key to the enormous variety of the Corsican landscape, a dense mosaic, composed of four divergent factors.Crystalline Corsica: for the most part granitic, covering the entire western part of the island, with various peaks over 2000 meters Mount Cintu, 2710 m., Mount Roton-du, 2622 m., Mount Oru 2389 m., and Mounts Renosu 2352 m., and Alcudina 2128 m. These generate a jagged coastline, scooped out by deep gulfs such as Portu, Sa-gona, Ajaccio and Vallncu.Metamorphic Corsica: essentially composed of schistous rock. The formations are less high 1300 m. at Cape Corso, culminating with San Petrone in the heart of the Castagniccia region at 1756 m. and regard only the northeastern part of the island. Between these two zones, a depression is formed starting at the delta of the Reginu in the northwest and terminating at that of the Solinzara. The altitude in not over 600 m., and unites the two mountainous Corsicas, serving as a meeting place or as a privileged communications point.These three aspects are completed by a large sedimentary zone along the eastern coast, initiating to the south of the city of Bastia and arriving as far as the village Sari of Porti Vecchju, forming a region of low-lying plains and hills perpendicularly crossed by numerous rivers in large valleys.Finally there are two small limestone formations, that of Saint Florent in the northwest and more important, the spectacular Bonifaziu in the south facing Sardinia and forming superb cliffs.It is a complex and very original structure that gives Corsica her varied climate and her Incomparable light. It Is a climate that has created two resources that are very rare In the Mediterranean: water and forests. Water is surprisingly abundant on the island. The mountains form a barrier causing very stong rainfalls if not long In duration; these rainfalls are enriched by the snowfalls on the higher peaks in the winter. Numerous creeks and springs, and more than forty rivers irrigate the Corsican territory.Such a wealth of water explains the vigor of the island's vegetation. The entire island is marked by beech and pine forests in the Niolu, Restonica regions, in the Ro-tondu and Renosu massifs, as well as at Bavedda and In the Cagna mountains in the extreme south. The forests show the signs of man's interventions. The Castagniccia massif, south of Bastia, deriving its name from the large amount of chestnut trees there has been voluntarily planted and replanted over the course of the centuries. Similarly, Balagna and Valincu are the lands of the tree that perhaps symbolizes the Mediterranean, the olive.Man's hand has touched even more of Corsica's landscape. Near the inhabited portions of the island, the forests have been replaced with that typically Mediterranean mixture of lentisk, cyst, myrtle, strawberry-tree, heath. This vegetation is the result of the axe or of fire, an archaic practice that is the source of one of the scourges of contemporary Corsica, one that has lastingly transformed the island's landscape. Corsica is a profoundly rural land, one that has been beset, even up until today, by the constant tug-of-war between the lowlands and the mountainous zones, as well as between the urban areas along the coasts and the more sparsely populated village areas. This vast system of land use, according to the seasons, is a theme found throughout Corsica's history, perhaps at its heart.HistoryCorsica's history is a long, dense and complex one, composed of multiple contributions, crossed by both harmony and violent crises. It is a history that alternates between periods of prosperity, periods of silence as though the island were gathering her forces to confront new difficulties. But beyond time's vicissitudes, the fact remains that Corsica, with her culture and in her culture, has been able to defend her individuality and to affirm her authenticity.Prehistoric CorsicaIn approximately the 7th Millenium B.C., near the coast at Bonifaziu and inland near Salnt-Florent, the first human settlements are founded. The mountains are already occupied by hunters and fishermen who did not yet know pottery. Pottery is Introduced in all of the Mediterranean some time later. In about 5000 B.C., the Neolithic period, the population is composed primarily of transhumant breeders of small animals like sheep and pigs. Slowly agriculture substitutes hunting and gathering. The settlements are primarily located in the valleys, in the low hills in the protection of natural rock formations. There are small huts on stone bases with mortar walls, like on the small island of La Pletra at lle-Rousse. The dead are buried in a prone position, on a bed of ochre or ash like at Bonifaziu or Llvia.3