An island of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea south of Corsica. Settled by Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians before the sixth century B.C., the island was taken by Rome in 238 B.C. and later fell to the Vandals (fifth century A.D.) and the Byzantines (early sixth century). Numerous European powers controlled the island before 1720, when it passed to the House of Savoy and became the nucleus of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia became the first king of Italy in 1861.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
