Corsica (French: Corse; Corsican: Corsica) is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily, Sardinia, and Cyprus). It is located west of Italy, southeast of France, and north of the island of Sardinia. Corsica is one of the 26 régions of France, although strictly speaking Corsica is called a "territorial collective" (collectivité territoriale) by law. As a territorial collective, it has slightly more far-reaching powers than other French régions, but for the most part its status is quite similar to that of the other régions. Corsica is referred to as a "région" in common speech, and is almost always listed among the other régions of France. Although the island is separated from the continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea, politically Corsica is considered part of Metropolitan France. Corsica is famed as the birthplace of Napoléon Bonaparte.-----------The island was under Carthaginian influence and domination until 237 BC, when it was taken over by the Roman Republic. It remained under Roman domination until its conquest by the Vandals in AD 430, and later by the Byzantine Empire in 522. With the collapse of Byzantine control, the island came under various influences, including Arabs and Lombards, before it finally fell to Genoa in 1282 following the Battle of Meloria against Pisa. Despite take-overs by Aragon between 1296-1434 and France between 1553-1559, the island would remain under the Genoese until sold to France in 1768.--------------An important figure in Corsican history is Pasquale Paoli (1725-1807), the Corsican general and leader who struggled for Corsican independence, first against Genoa, then against France. Though never completely ridding the island from the Genoese the Corsican republic (they referred to it as a kingdom but as the sovereign was the Virgin Mary herself it was a republic in all but name) was the first democratic republic established under Enlightenment principles being established in 1755. The Corsican Constitution was drafted which was also a first for Corsica. ------------ It was essentially in Pasquale Paoli's time that the Moor's head ("Testa Maura") became Corsica's emblem in 1760, harking back to the period when Corsica had been controlled by Moors (850 to 1034). ---------- Genoa sold their claim to Corsica to France in 1768 and the French forces invaded eventually defeating the republican forces in 1769. Paoli took exile in London.----Corsica is also the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born in Ajaccio in 1769, into minor Corsican nobility. Corsica was under French control at the time, and Corsican nobles were offered the ability to gain French titles if they could prove their genealogy sufficiently. In an attempt to do so, Napoleon's parents traveled to court in France, and, like many other Corsican nobles, sent their son to school there.