I had come to Corsica on a quest to understand its archaic, pastoral society. For a week, I drove switchbacks and hairpins through the island’s interior, finding a land that was everything the Mediterranean used to be: rugged, atmospheric, and almost devoid of people. Isolated by cliffs, gorges, and forests - and by its inhabitants’ fierce sense of independence - Corsica feels as if it got left behind while the rest of the world marched on.