Ajaccio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Commune of Ajaccio |
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| Aiacciu | ||
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| City flag | City coat of arms | |
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| The port | ||
| Location | ||
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| Administration | ||
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| Country | France | |
| Region | Corsica (capital) | |
| Department | Corse-du-Sud | |
| Arrondissement | Ajaccio | |
| Intercommunality | Pays Ajaccien | |
| Mayor | Simon Renucci (2001-2008) |
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| Statistics | ||
| Elevation | 0 m–787 m (avg. 38 m) |
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| Land area¹ | 82.03 km² | |
| Population² (1999) |
52,880 | |
| - Density | 645/km² (1999) | |
| Miscellaneous | ||
| INSEE/Postal code | 2A004/ 20000 | |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | ||
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once. | ||
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Ajaccio (IPA: [ajatʃo], Latin: Adiacium; French: Ajaccio; Corsican: Aiacciu), is a commune in France. It is the capital of the territorial collectivity of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud.
The geopolitical arrangements of the commune are slightly different from those typical of Corsica and France. Usually an arrondissement includes cantons and a canton includes one to several communes including the chef-lieu, "chief place", from which the canton takes its name. The city of Ajaccio is one commune, but it contains six cantons, Cantons 1-6, and a fraction of Canton 7. The latter contains five other communes: Bastelicaccia, Alata, Afa, Appietto and Villanova, making a total of six communes for the seven cantons of Ajaccio.[1]
Each canton contains a certain number of quartiers, "quarters". Cantons 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 are located along the Gulf of Ajaccio from west to east, while 4 and 5 are a little further up the valleys of the Gravona and the Prunelli Rivers. These political divisions subdivide the population of Ajaccio into units that can be more democratically served but they do not give a true picture of the size of Ajaccio. In general language, "greater Ajaccio" includes about 100,000 people with all the medical, educational, utility and transportational facilities of a big city. Up until World War II it was still possible to regard the city as being a settlement of narrow streets localized to some part of the harbor or the Gulf of Ajaccio; such bucolic descriptions do not fit the city of today, and travellogues intended for mountain or coastal recreational areas do not generally apply to Corsica's few big cities.
The arrondissement contains other cantons that extend generally up the two rivers into central Corsica.
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[edit] Geography
Ajaccio is located on the west coast of the island of Corsica, 210 nautical miles (390 km) southeast of Marseille. It occupies a sheltered position at the foot of wooded hills on the northern shore of the Gulf of Ajaccio. The harbour lies to the east of the foundation site at the original citadel on a hill overlooking a peninsula protecting the harbor on the south, where now are located the Quai de la Citadelle and the Jettée de la Citadelle. The modern city not only encloses the entire harbor but takes up the better part of the Gulf of Ajaccio and in suburban form extends for some miles up the valley of the Gravona River. The flow from that river is nearly entirely consumed as the city's water supply.
[edit] History
[edit] Origin of the city
The present town of Ajaccio was founded in 1492 on its current site by the Bank of Saint George at Genoa, which dispatched Cristoforo of Gandini, an architect, to build it. He began with a castle on Capo di Bolo, around which he constructed residences for several hundred people.[2]
The name had already been attached to a Roman town 3 km (2 mi) to the north (well within the city of today), which had been destroyed by the Saracens and now because of malaria was sparsely populated; that is, the new city was essentially a colony of Genoa. The Corsicans were restricted from the city for some years.
The Roman authors have not left a record of the town, but Epistle 77 written in 601 AD of Gregory the great to the Defensor Boniface, one of two known rectors of the early Corsican church,[3] urges Boniface not to leave Aleria and Adjacium without bishops.[4]
There is no earlier use of the term and Adjacium is not an attested Latin word, which probably means that it is a Latinization of a word in some other language. The Ravenna Cosmography of about 700 AD cites Agiation,[5] which sometimes is taken as evidence of a prior Greek city, as -ion appears to be a Greek ending. But, there is no evidence whatever of a Greek presence on the west coast and the Ionians at Aleria on the east coast had been expelled by the Etruscans long before Roman domination.[6] The original name remains unknown, perhaps never will be known and therefore is likely to have been aboriginal.
Ptolemy, who must come the closest to representing indigenous names, lists the Locris River about where the Gravona is. His western coastline is so distorted, however, that it is impossible to say where Adjacium was; certainly, he would have known its name and location if he had had any first-hand knowledge of the island. The lack of correspondence between Ptolemy and historical names known to be ancient has no defense except in the case of the two Roman colonies, Aleria and Mariana.[7]
[edit] From origin to Annexation
Occupied from 1553 to 1559 by the French, Corsica again fell to the Genoese after the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in the later year. The Republic of Genoa was strong enough to keep it until 1755, the year Pasquale Paoli proclaimed the Corsican Republic. Paoli took most of the island for the republic but he was unable to force Genoese troops out of the citadels of Saint-Florent, Calvi, Ajaccio, Bastia and Algajola. Leaving them there, he went on build the nation, while the Republic of Genoa was left to ponder prospects and solutions.
In 1764 by secret treaty Genoa sold Corsica to the Duc de Choiseul, then minister of the French Navy, who bought on behalf of the crown. On the quiet French troops gradually replaced Genoese in the citadels. In 1768, after preparations had been made, an open treaty with Genoa ceded Corsica to France in perpetuity with no possibility of retraction and the Duc appointed a Corsican supporter, Buttafuoco, as administrator. The island rose in revolt. Paoli fought a guerilla war against fresh French troops under a commander, Comte de Marbeuf, but lost and had to go into exile in Vienna then London. In 1770 Marbeuf publically announced the annexation of Corsica and appointed a governor.
[edit] Napoleon I
Ostensibly Napoleon Bonaparte (Nabulion Buonaparte) was born at Ajaccio in the same year as the Battle of Ponte Novu, 1769. The Bonapartes at the time had a modest four-story home in town (now a museum) and a rarely used country home in the hills north of the city. The father of the family, attorney Charles-Marie Buonaparte, was secretary to Pasquali Paoli during the golden years of the republic.
After the defeat of Paoli the Comte de Marbeuf began to meet with some leading Corsicans to outline the shape of the future and enlist their assistance. Charles was among a delegation from Ajaccio in 1769, offered his loyalty and was appointed assessor.
Marbeuf also offered Charles-Marie one appointment for one of his sons to the Military College of Brienne, but the child must be under 10. There is a dispute concerning Napoleon's age because of this requirement; the emperor is known to have altered the civic records at Ajaccio concerning himself and it is possible that he was born in Corte in 1768 when his father was there on business. In any case Napoleon went to Brienne 1779-1784.[8]
At Brienne Napoleon concentrated on studies. He wrote a boyish history of Corsica. He did not share his father's views but held Pasquale Paoli in high esteem and was at heart a Corsican nationalist. The top students were encouraged to go into the artillery. After graduation and a brief sojourn at the Military School of Paris Napoleon applied for second-lieutenancy in the artillery regiment of La Fère at Valence and after a time was given the position. Meanwhile his father died and his mother was cast into poverty in Corsica, still having four children to support. Her only income was Napoleon's meagre salary.
The regiment was in Auxonne when the revolution broke out in in the summer of 1789. Napoleon returned on leave to Ajaccio in October, became a Jacobin and began to work for the revolution. The National Assembly in Paris united Corsica to France and pardoned its exiles. Paoli returning in 1790 after 21 years kissed the soil on which he stood. He and Napoleon met and toured the battlefield of Paoli's defeat. A national assembly at Orezza created the departement of Corsica and Paoli was subsequently elected president. He commanded the national guard raised by Napoleon. After a brief return to his regiment Napoleon was promoted to First Lieutenant and came home again on leave in 1791. The death of a rich uncle relieved the family's poverty.
All officers were recalled from leave in 1792, intervention threatened and war with Austria (Marie-Antoinette's homeland) began. Napoleon returned to Paris for review, was exonerated, promoted to Captain and given leave to escort his sister, a schoolgirl, back to Corsica at state expense. His family was prospering; the estate increased.
Napoleon became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Corsican National Guard. Paoli sent him off on an expedition to Sardinia ordered by France under Paolis's nephew, but the nephew had secret orders from Paoli to make sure the expedition failed.[9] The leader was now a conservative, had opposed the execution of the king and supported alliance with England. Returning from Sardinia Napoleon with his family and all his supporters were instrumental in getting Paoli denounced at the National Convention in Paris in 1793. Napoleon earned the hatred of the Paolists by pretending to support Paoli and then turning against him (payment, one supposes, for Sardinia).
Paoli was convicted in absentia, a warrant was sent for his arrest (which could not be served) and Napoleon was dispatched to Corsica as Inspector-general of Artillery to take the citadel of Ajaccio from the royalists, who had held it since 1789. The Paolists combining with the royalists defeated the French in two pitched battles and Napoleon and his family went on the run, hiding by day, while the Paolists burned their estate. Napoleon and his mother, Laetitia, were taken out by ship in June, 1793, by friends while two of the girls found refuge with other friends. They landed in Toulon with only Napoleon's pay for their support.
The Bonapartes moved to Marseille but in August Toulon offered itself to the British and received the protection of a fleet under Admiral Hood. The Siege of Toulon began in September under revolutionary officers mainly untrained in the art of war. Napoleon happened to present socially one evening and during a casual conversation over a misplaced 24-pounder explained the value of artillery. Taken seriously he was allowed to bring up over 100 guns from coastal emplacements but his plan for the taking of Toulon was set aside as one incompetant officer superseded another. By December they decided to try his plan and made him a Colonel. Placing the guns at close range he used them to keep off the British fleet while he battered down the walls of Toulon. As soon as the Committee of Public Safety heard of the victory Napoleon became a Brigadier General, the start of his meteoric rise to power.
The Bonapartes were back in Ajaccio in 1797 under the protection of general Napoleon. Shortly after Napoleon became First Consul and then emperor, using the office to spread the revolution throughout Europe. In 1811 he made Ajaccio the capital of the new Department of Corsica. Despite his subsequent defeat by the British, exile and death no victorious power ever reversed that decision or tried to remove Corsica from France. Among the natives, although Corsican nationalism is strong, and feeling often runs high in favor of a union with Italy, loyalty to France as evidenced by election remains stronger.
[edit] Main sights
- The peninsula carries the citadel and terminates in the Citadel jetty. To the south-west of this peninsula lies the Place Bonaparte, a quarter frequented chiefly by winter visitors attracted by the mild climate of the town.
- The house in which Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 is preserved, and his associations with the town are everywhere emphasized by street-names and statues.
- The town is also home to Ajaccio Cathedral.
[edit] Gallery
 Early city map |
 Statue of Napoleon in Roman garb |
 Casa di Napoleon |
 Grand hotel |
 Place Ajaccio |
 Ajaccio plage |
 View from the Gulf of Ajaccio |
 Palais des congrès d'Ajaccio |
[edit] Economy
Ajaccio has a small manufacturing economy of cigars, macaroni, and similar products, and carries on shipbuilding, sardine-fishing and coral-fishing. Its exports include timber, citrons, skins, chestnuts and gallic acid.
The port is accessible by the largest ships, but its accommodation is indifferent. In 1904 there entered 603 vessels with a tonnage of 202,980, and cleared 608 vessels with a tonnage of 202,502.
[edit] Transport
Ajaccio is served primarily by Campo dell'Oro Airport on the east side of the Gulf of Ajaccio just north of the mouth of the Gravona River. From there Route N193 readily connects to the center of the city. Ferries also leave regularly from Quai L'Herminier on the west side of the gulf for Porto Torres, Marseille, Toulon and Nice. A major road, Route N194, travels up the valley of the Gravona River leading to Cortes and is paralleled by a scenic narrow-gage railway. Another major road, Route N196, winds southeast to Bonifacio.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- The town is the seat of a bishopric dating at least from the 7th century. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, training colleges, a communal college, a museum and a library; the three latter are established in the Palais Fesch, founded by Cardinal Fesch, who was born at Ajaccio in 1763.
- The local football club is AC Ajaccio & GFCO Ajaccio.
[edit] Personalities
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), Emperor of the French.
- Irène Bordoni (1895-1953), singer, Broadway theatre & film actress.
- Jean-Michel Cavalli (1959-?), coach of the Algeria national football team.
- Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), cardinal.
- Alizée Jacotey (born 1984), female French singer.
- Tino Rossi (1907-1983), singer, actor.
[edit] Notes
- ^ France, le trésor des régions: Département: Haut-Corse (html). Retrieved on 2008-05-06. (French).
- ^ History of the city of Ajaccio (html). Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
- ^ Richards, Jeffrey (1979). The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476-752, page 318. ISBN 0710000987.
- ^ See below under Bibliography.
- ^ Anonymous of Ravenna; Guido; Gustav Parthey; Moritz Pinder (1860). Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia et Guidonis Geographica. Berolini: in aedibvs Friderici Nicolai, page 413. (Latin). Downloadable Google Books.
- ^ Manuscript variants are Agration and Agiagium nor does the use of a Greek ending indicate anything at all about ethnicity at this late date, when geographers used either Greek or Latin forms at will. The word is no more decipherable in Greek than it is in Latin; attempts to connect two or three letters with Indo-European roots amount to wild speculation. Moreover, the mythological connection to Ajax is pure folk-etymology; that a legendary character of 1600 years before the first instance of the name should have been real and should have left his name on a Corsican city hundreds of years before any existed there is unlikely.
- ^ The possible identification of Adjacium with Urcinium has the disadvantages of Urcinium being too far north and obviously not the same name as Adjacium. Massimi, Pierre; Jose Tomazi (2002). A corsica in la carta geografica di Ptolomey (pdf). InterRomania. Centru Culturale, Universita di Corsica. Retrieved on 2008-05-18. (Corsican).
- ^ Baring-Gould, Sabine (2006). The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Adamant Media Corporation, Chapter 1. ISBN 0-543-95815-9.
- ^ Cinti, Maurizio (1995-2004). La Maddalena, 22/25 February 1793 (html). Military Subjects: Battles & Campaigns. The Napoleon Series. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
[edit] Bibliography
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XIII/Gregory the Great/Book XI/Letter 37" on Wikisource.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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