CORSE - Geography and history
Corsica (Corse) is the smallest of the French regions, with an area of 8 681 km2. The Corsican coastline (1 047 km, or 14% of the total coastline of France) is unusual in its high proportion of rocky terrain (71%).
Corsica, a mountain in the sea, rises up to 2 710 m at Monte Cinto, with an average altitude of 568 m. Part of the old, primary continent which was worn down and then sedimented up to the folded mountains of the Alps, Corsica is made up of two mountain systems, crystalline in the west and schistous in the east, separated by a central depression known as the 'sillon de Corte'. The climate is determined by altitude. There are three climatic regions: a pure Mediterranean climate over two-thirds of the island, a cooler but still Mediterranean climate at the higher altitudes and an alpine-type climate over 12% of the island.
Although it rains on only a few days in the year, the rain can be heavy and helps to feed a major network of rivers and seasonally torrential watercourses.
Corsica?s geographic isolation is due not only to that fact that it is an island, but also to its mountainous relief. Exchanges with the continent are limited by the distance, and on the island itself movement is restricted by the island?s relief. Nevertheless, its isolation and mountainous relief are also part of the ?Island of Beauty??s strengths, with tourism being an important sector of activity.
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