Cyprus

:See also Cypress (a common misspelling) for other meanings.

History

Main article: History of Cyprus

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Prehistoric and Ancient Cyprus

Cyprus was originally settled in prehistory from the Levant. There are numerous traces of the Stone Age, going back to the aceramic Neolithic. Greek and Phœnician settlements belong to the Iron Age, and the development of towns, copper mining and seafaring trade can be traced to the Bronze Age. The influence of the Mycenæan culture of Greece seems to have reached the island around 1600 B.C., when local copies of Mycenæan pottery were produced, although some scholars argue that this was the result of trade and that Mycenæan settlement did not begin in earnest for another four hundred years. The island was invaded by Pharaoh Thothmes III of Egypt about 1500 BC, and was forced to pay tribute. This migration may be remembered in legends about Greek heroes who settled in Cyprus after the Trojan War. Cypriot culture remained a mixture of Mycenæan, Egyptian, Levantine and Anatolian elements.

Related Topics:
Levant - Stone Age - Phœnician - Iron Age - Bronze Age - Mycenæan - Greece - Thothmes III - Egypt - Trojan War

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In the 8th century BC, Cyprus became a part of the Assyrian Empire. At that time, Cyprus was ruled by eleven kings, clients of the Assyrians. In the 6th century B.C., Amasis of Egypt conquered Cyprus, which soon fell under the rule of the Persians when Cambyses conquered Egypt. Under the Persian Empire, Cyprus formed part of the Fifth Satrapy and, in addition to tribute, it had to supply the Persians with ships and crews, drawing on its seafaring culture. When the Ionian Greeks revolted against Persia in 499 BC the Cypriot kings, except for Amathus, joined at the instigation of Onesilaos, brother of the king of Salamis, whom he dethroned for not wanting to fight for independence. The Persians reacted quickly sending a considerable force against Onesilaos and crushed the Ionian rebellion.

Related Topics:
Amasis - Egypt - Persians - Cambyses

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After defeat by the Persians, the Greeks mounted various expeditions against Persian rule in Cyprus, but no effort resulted in better than temporary results. After the victory of Alexander the Great over the Persians at Issos, the Cypriot kings went over to the Macedonians at Tyre. Later, the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt controlled the island, until it was annexed by Rome in 58-57 BC. During the Roman period, Cyprus was visited by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas--who came to the island with Mark the Evangelist at the outset of their first missionary journey in 45 AD. After their arrival at Salamis they proceeded to Paphos where they converted the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to Christianity. This is the origin of the claim that Cyprus became the first territory in the world to be governed by a christian ruler.

Related Topics:
Alexander the Great - Issos - Ptolemaic - 57 BC - Paul - Barnabas - Mark the Evangelist - Salamis - Paphos - Sergius Paulus - Christianity

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Cyprus in ancient myth

Cyprus is the legendary birthplace of the goddess of love, sex and passion, the beautiful Aphrodite. According to Hesiod's Theogony, the goddess, who was also known as Kypris or the Cyprian, emerged fully grown from the sea where the severed genitals of the god Uranus were cast by his son, Kronos, causing the sea to foam (Greek: Aphros). The legendary site of Aphrodite's birth from the foam is at 'Petra tou Romiou' ('Aphrodite's Rock'), a large stack in the sea close to the coastal cliffs near Paphos. Throughout ancient history, Cyprus was a flourishing centre for the cultic worship of Aphrodite.

Related Topics:
Hesiod - Theogony - Uranus - Kronos - Paphos

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Her birth was famously depicted by the artist Botticelli in The Birth of Venus.

Related Topics:
Botticelli - Venus

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Post-Classical and Modern Cyprus

Cyprus became part of the Byzantine Empire after the partitioning of the Roman Empire in 395, and remained so for almost 900 years. The Arabs pillaged the island in 646. In 654 a second, devastating Arab invasion took place. The island negotiated a relatively secure independence, but paid tribute to the Ummayads. After the rule of an independent Emperor (Isaac Comnenus), King Richard I of England captured the island in 1191 during the Crusades. Guy of Lusignan purchased the island from Richard in 1192. The Republic of Venice took control in 1489 after the death of the last Lusignan Queen, after which the Ottoman Empire conquered the Island in 1570.

Related Topics:
Byzantine Empire - Roman Empire - Arab - 646 - Ummayads - Richard I of England - Crusades - Guy of Lusignan - Republic of Venice - 1489 - 1570

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Cyprus was placed under British control on 4 June 1878 as a result of the Cyprus Convention, which granted control of the island to Britain in return for British support of the Ottoman Empire in the Russian-Turkish War.

Related Topics:
British - 1878 - Cyprus Convention

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Famagusta harbour was completed in June 1906; by this time the island was a strategic naval outpost for the British Empire, shoring up influence over the Eastern Mediterranean and Suez Canal, the crucial main route to India.

Related Topics:
1906 - British Empire - Mediterranean - Suez Canal - India

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Cyprus was formally annexed by the United Kingdom in 1913 in the run-up to the First World War. Many Cypriots, now British subjects, signed up to fight in the British Army, in this and in the Second World War.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - 1913 - Second World War

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During the 1940s and 1950s, some Cypriots began to demand union with Greece. The Greek community held referenda in support of annexation, while the British sought to quell any movement which could threaten their possession of the island. In 1955 the struggle erupted into guerrilla activity with the foundation of EOKA, and in the closing years of the 1950s the political and intercommunal atmosphere on the island became increasingly fraught.

Related Topics:
Union with Greece - EOKA - Increasingly fraught

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Independence was attained in 1960 after exhaustive negotiations between the United Kingdom, as the colonial power, and Greece and Turkey, the cultural 'motherlands' for the two communities on Cyprus. The constitution produced by the negotiations was a finely-balanced document allocating government posts and public offices by ethnic quota. The first President was the Greek Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios III, and his Vice President was the leading Turkish Cypriot politician Dr Faz?l Küçük.

Related Topics:
Independence - 1960 - Colonial power - Makarios III - Dr Faz?l Küçük

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Post-independence

Main article: Cyprus dispute

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During the 1960s, Makarios and Küçük pursued a non-aligned foreign policy, cultivating good relations with the Britain, Greece and Turkey and taking a leading role in developing the Non-Aligned Movement. However, by 1974 dissatisfaction among right-wing elements in favour of the long-term goal of Enosis - union with Greece - precipitated a coup d'etat against Makarios which was sponsored by Greece and led by the Cypriot National Guard. The new regime replaced Makarios with Nikos Giorgiades Sampson as president, and Bishop Gennadios as head of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. Diplomacy failed to resolve the crisis. Turkey invaded Cyprus by sea and air on 20 July, 1974, asserting its right to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority. Talks in Geneva involving Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the two Cypriot factions failed in mid-August, and the Turks subsequently moved to gain control of 37% of the island's territory. Upwards of 200,000 Cypriots were uprooted, with Greek Cypriots forced to flee from the Turkish-occupied north and Turkish Cypriots displaced from the south. Greece made no armed response to the superior Turkish force but bitterly suspended military participation in the NATO alliance. The tension continued after Makarios returned to become president on Dec. 7, 1974. He offered self-government to the Turkish minority, but rejected any solution ?involving transfer of populations and amounting to partition of Cyprus.? The events of the summer of 1974 have dominated Cypriot politics ever since and have been a major point of contention between Greece and Turkey.

Related Topics:
Britain - Greece - Turkey - Non-Aligned Movement - Enosis - Coup d'etat - Greece - Nikos Giorgiades Sampson - Cypriot Orthodox Church - Geneva

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After 1974 there were near-continual efforts to negotiate a settlement, which met with varying levels of hostility from either side.

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Turkish Cypriots proclaimed a separate state under Rauf Denktash on Nov. 15, 1983, naming it the ?Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.? The UN Security Council, in its Resolution 541 of Nov. 18, 1983, declared the action illegal and called for withdrawal. Turkey is to date the only country to recognise the government of northern Cyprus. Conversely, it continues to reject calls to recognise the Republic of Cyprus as the sole legitimate government of Cyprus, and this political point has caused strained relations with the European Union.

Related Topics:
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - European Union

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Relations in the eastern Mediterranean were particularly frayed in the mid-1990s, especially after the acquisition by the Cypriot government of Russian missiles in 1997 which were capable of reaching the Turkish coast. The S-300 missiles, in fact, never arrived in Cyprus but stayed on the neighbouring island of Crete.

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In April 2005, Turkish Cyprus elected Mehmet Ali Talat as their president to succeed the retiring long-time leader Rauf Denktash, who staunchly opposed reunification. In contrast, Talat has been a keen supporter of reunification and subsequently the recently proposed "Annan Plan".

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