This is a list of ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes, listed in order of ethnic kinship or the general area in which they lived. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.
Before the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were inhabited by three main peoples or ethnic groups, the Corsi, the Balares, and the Ilienses, each of them divided into several tribes. With the Roman conquest, the province of Sardinia and Corsica was created, becoming the second province of the Roman Republic to be created after that of Sicily.
The ethnic and linguistic affiliation (Paleo-Sardinian language) of the Nuragic people and tribes remains to be further studied, moreover "Nuragic" might have also been a geographical and historical name designating different peoples and languages, rather than indicating a single origin. Current knowledge indicates that they may have been related to the Iberians and the ancient Basque: these peoples were Pre-Indo-Europeans and spoke Pre-Indo-European languages, Proto-Basque (the ancestor of modern Basque) and Iberian.[1] There is also the possibility that the Nuragic peoples may have been related to the Etruscans and other Tyrsenian peoples and languages.[2] One of the Sea Peoples (the Shardana or Sherden) may have been either a population hailing from Sardinia (Ugas 2005, 2016) or a group of tribes that migrated to the island in the Late Bronze Age (Sandars 1978).
Ancient peoples and tribes of Corsica and Sardinia; in blue the land dwelt by the Corsi, in red the land dwelt by the Balares (Balari), in yellow the land dwelt by the Ilienses (Iolei) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).Ancient tribes of Corsica (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).Ancient tribes of Sardinia according to the Greek geographer Ptolemy and Ugas (2005) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).Tribes of Sardinia geographic location described by the Romans.
Tibulati, they dwelt at the far northern Sardinia, about the ancient city of Tibula, near the Corsi (for whom Corsica is named) and immediately north of the Coracenses.
Mauri (Paleo-Sardinian tribe) (Mauri Ilienses), in an area of far southwestern Sardinia (they may have been a tribe related to or of Mauri origin that was assimilated by the Ilienses (Iolei))
