The French island of Corsica, renowned for its magnificent beaches, is in turmoil following the assault in prison of a nationalist militant seen by some as a hero and others as a cold-blooded murderer.

Here are five things to know about France’s “Island of Beauty”, where Napoleon Bonaparte was born and British Admiral Horatio Nelson lost an eye.

Sea and mountains

The fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus is a tourist magnet, with some 200 beaches.

A hikers’ paradise it has 120 mountain peaks of more than 2,000m, with Monte Cinto the loftiest at 2,706m.

French, British, French again

After being conquered by the Romans and then falling under Byzantine rule, Corsica was ruled over by the Genoese of Italy before becoming French in 1768, just in time for the birth of future emperor Napoleon on the island a year later.

Yet for two years after the French Revolution the island was a self-governing part of the British empire.

Caught up in the struggle between Paris and Corsican nationalists was British Admiral Horatio Nelson, who lost the sight in his right eye in the Battle of Corsica in 1794.

Governor assassinated

The separatist National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) launched a bombing campaign in the mid-1970s targeting state infrastructure and senior French officials.

The violence by various clandestine groups continued through the 1980s and 1990s, culminating in the assassination of Claude Erignac, the top representative of the central government on the island, on February 6, 1998.

In 2014, the FLNC called off its armed campaign.

Nationalists in power

Since 1991, the island of 340,000 people has enjoyed a greater amount of autonomy than other French regions, notably in education, the environment and transport.

The nationalist coalition that came to power on the island in 2015 sought more autonomy.

However, Paris rebuffed many of its demands, including that the Corsican language be recognised as an official tongue alongside French and that “political prisoners” such as Yvan Colonna, who was convicted of Erignac’s death, be granted amnesty.

Rich diet

It may be one of France’s poorest regions with little heavy industry, but Corsicans enjoy a rich diet including wild boar and deliciously creamy goat’s milk cheese, pasta and olives. Main earners, tourism aside, are wine production, lifestock rearing, citrus fruit and peaches. – AFP, March 15, 2022.