Like privateering, corsair activity was closely related to maritime piracy sponsored by states or rulers (Privateer). The term derives from the Italian corsa (“raid”, from the Latin cursus), and has nothing to do with the island of Corsica. Corsair activity was mainly focused in the western half of the Mediterranean, so that the term entered not only Italian (corsaro) but also the other languages of that region (French corsaire; Spanish corsario; Portuguese corsário).