French language

French (le français [lə fʁɑ̃sɛ] or la langue française [la lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛz]) is a Romance language, belonging to the Indo-European family. It descended from the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, as did languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan and others. French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

French is the official language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is spoken as a first language in France, southern Belgium, western Switzerland, Monaco, certain parts of Canada and the United States, and by various communities elsewhere. As of 2015, 40% of the francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.

Corsica

Corsica (/ˈkɔːrsɪkə/; French: Corse [kɔʁs]; Corsican and Italian: Corsica [ˈkɔrsika]) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to France. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia. Mountains make up two-thirds of the island, forming a single chain.

Corsica is one of the 18 régions of France, although it is designated as a territorial collectivity (collectivité territoriale) by law. As a territorial collectivity, Corsica enjoys some greater powers than other French régions but is referred to as a région in common speech and is almost always listed among them.

The island formed a single department until it was split in 1975 into two departments: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica), with its regional capital in Ajaccio, the prefecture city of Corse-du-Sud. Bastia, the prefecture city of Haute-Corse, is the second-largest settlement in Corsica.

After being ruled by the Republic of Genoa since 1284, Corsica was briefly an independent Corsican Republic from 1755 until it was annexed by France in 1769. Due to Corsica's historical ties with the Italian peninsula, the island retains to this day many elements of Italian culture. The native Corsican language, whose northern variant is closely related to Tuscan, is recognised as a regional language by the French government. This Mediterranean island was ruled by various nations over the course of history but had several brief periods of independence.

Corse-du-Sud

Corse-du-Sud (French pronunciation: ​[kɔʁs.dy.syd]; Corsican: Corsica suttana) (English: South Corsica) is a department of France consisting of the southern part of the island of Corsica.

History

The department was formed on 15 September 1975, when the department of Corsica was divided into Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud. Its boundaries correspond to the former department of Liamone, which existed from 1793 to 1811.

The department hit the head-lines at the end of the twentieth century with the assassination at Ajaccio of the prefect Claude Érignac on 6 February 1998.

Geography

The department is surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean Sea and on the north by the department of Haute-Corse.

The entire island of Corsica is mountainous with many beautiful beaches.

Demographics

The people living in this subregion are called "Southerners" (Suttanacci).

Culture and politics

Corsicans are a fiercely independent people. However, on 6 July 2003 a referendum rejected increased autonomy by a very small majority, with 50.98 percent of those voting being against and 49.02 percent for. This was a major setback for the French Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, who had hoped to use Corsica as the first step in his decentralization programme.