An island of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea south of Corsica. Settled by Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians before the sixth century BC, the island was taken by Rome in 238 BC and later fell to the Vandals (fifth century AD) 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.