an island in the Mediterranean, now forming one of the departments of the kingdom of France. It extends from 8°. 30. to 9°. 31. east longitude, and from 41°. 15. to 42°. 59. north latitude. The greatest length from north to south is about a hundred and five miles, its breadth from east to west is forty-six miles, and it contains 3920 square miles. It is now divided into five arrondissements, sixty-one cantons, and three hundred and ninety-eight communes, and the population amounts to 174,702 souls. The island is generally mountainous, intersected with narrow valleys and plains. Some of the Corsica mountains in the centre are of the height of more than nine thousand feet. Cultivation is in a neglected state; but in some spots, owing to the spontaneous fertility of the soil and the heat of the climate, rather than attention, the products are wine, olives, almonds, liquorice, chestnuts, oranges, and pomegranates. The corn is barely sufficient for the scanty population. The inhabitants are generally in a rude state, and their houses, dresses, and food, are of the simplest kind. They speak an impure and peculiar kind of Italian. Many of the natives are employed in fishing for coral and for anchovies.

Corsica was governed by the republic of Genoa till 1768, when it was transferred by that feeble power to France, being then in a state of insurrection. It was at much expense of blood and treasure subdued. In 1792 it was taken by England; but after attempting to rule it, it was abandoned, since which it has continued in uninterrupted possession of France. Its greatest celebrity in modern times has arisen from being the birth-place of the Bonaparte family.