History of Cyprus

Prehistoric and ancient Cyprus
There are only small traces of the Stone Age, but the Bronze Age was characterized by a well-developed and clearly marked civilization. The people quickly learned to work the rich copper mines of the island. The Mycenæan civilization seems to have reached Cyprus at around 1600 B.C. and several Greek and Phœnician settlements that belong to the Iron Age can be found on the island. Cyprus came into contact with Egypt about 1500 B.C. and became an important trade partner for them.

Around 1200 B.C. the Sea people began to arrive as settlers to Cyprus, a process which lasted for more than a century. This migration is remembered in many sagas concerning how some of the Greek heroes that participated in the Trojan war came to settle in Cyprus. The newcomers brought with them their language, new technology, and introduced a new outlook for visual arts. The Phœnicians arrived at the island in the early first Millennium BC. In those times Cyprus supplied the Greeks with timber for their fleets.

In the 6th century B.C., Amasis of Egypt conquered Cyprus, which soon fell under the rule of the Persians when Cambyses conquered Egypt. In 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. In their new fate the Greeks of Cyprus had as companions the Greeks of Ionia (west coast of Anatolia) with whom they forged closer ties. When the Ionian Greeks revolted against Persia (499 BC) the Cypriots, except for the city of Amathus, joined in led by Onesilos who dethroned his brother, the king of Salamis, for not wanting to fight for independence. The Persians reacted quickly sending a considerable force against Onesilos. The Persians finally won despite Ionian help.

After their defeat, the Greeks mounted various expeditions in order to liberate Cyprus from the Persian rule, but all their efforts bore only temporary results. Eventually, Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) took the island from the Persians. Later, the Ptolemies of Egypt controlled it; finally Rome annexed it in 58-57 BC. No doubt the most important event that occurred in Roman Cyprus was the visit by Apostles Paul and Barnabas accompanied by St Mark who came to the island at the outset of their first missionary journey in AD 45. After their arrival at Salamis they proceeded to Paphos where they converted the Roman Governor Sergius Paulus to Christianity making Cyprus the first country in the world governed by a Christian ruler.

Cyprus in ancient myth
Cyprus is the legendary birthplace of the goddess of beauty, love, sex and passion, the beautiful Aphrodite (also known as Kypris or the Cyprian). According to Hesiod's Theogony, the goddess 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). Her birth was famously depicted by the artist Botticelli in The Birth of Venus. The legendary site of Aphrodite's birth is at 'Petra tou Romiou' (or 'Aphrodite's Rock'), a large sea stack close to the coastal cliffs near Paphos. Throughout ancient history, Cyprus was a flourishing centre for the cultic worship of Aphrodite.

Post-classical and modern Cyprus
Cyprus became part of the Byzantine Empire after the partitioning of the Roman Empire in AD 395, and remained so for almost 800 years, though with brief period of Arab domination and influence.

After the rule of the rebellious Byzantine Emperor Isaac Comnenus, King Richard I of England captured the island in 1191 during the Third Crusade. On May 6, 1191, Richard's fleet arrived in the port of Lemesos (now Limassol) and took the city. When Isaac arrived to stop the Crusaders he discovered he was too late and retired to Kolossi. Richard called Isaac to negotiations but Isaac broke his oath of hospitality and started demanding Richard's departure. Richard ordered his cavalry to follow him in a battle against Isaac's army in Tremetusia. The few Roman Catholics of the island joined Richard's army and so did the island's nobles who were dissatisfied with Isaac's seven years of tyrannical rule. Though Isaac and his men fought bravely, Richard's army was bigger and better equipped, assuring his victory. Isaac continued to resist from the castles of Pentadactylos but after the siege of his castle of Kantara he finally surrendered. In a fit of sardonic irony, Richard had Isaac confined with silver chains, scrupulously abiding by a previous promise that he would not place Isaac in irons should he be taken prisoner. Richard became the new ruler of Cyprus, gaining for the Crusade a major supply base that was not under immediate threat from the Turks as was Tyre. Richard looted the island and massacred those trying to resist him. He and most of his army left Cyprus for the Holy Land early in June. In his absence Cyprus would be governed by Richard Camville.

Guy of Lusignan purchased the island from Richard in 1192 compensated for the loss of his kingdom by purchasing Cyprus from the Templars. 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 1571.

The Ottoman occupation brought about two radical results in the history of the island. For the first time since the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC, a new ethnic element appeared, the Turks. The Ottoman Empire gave timars--land grants--to soldiers under the condition that they and their families would stay there permanently. During the 17th century the Turkish population grew rapidly, partly by conversion. Most of the Turks who had settled on the island during the three centuries of Ottoman rule remained when control of Cyprus--although not sovereignty--was ceded to Britain in 1878. Many, however, left for Turkey during the 1920s. By 1970, ethnic Turks represented 18% of the total population of the island, with ethnic Greeks representing the remainder. The distinction between the two groups was by religion, and by language.

The second important result of the Ottoman occupation benefited the Greek peasants who no longer remained serfs of the land they were cultivating. Now they could acquire it against payment, thus becoming owners of it. The Ottomans also applied the millet system to Cyprus, which allowed religious authorities to govern their own non-Muslim minorities. This system reinforced the position of the Orthodox Church and the cohesion of the ethnic Greek population. The Church of Cyprus was liberated because the Turks were afraid of the presence of the Catholic Church as it might instigate an attack of Western Europe against them. Gradually the Archbishop of Cyprus became not only religious but ethnic leader as well, something the Turks promoted wanting to have somebody responsible for the loyalty of the Greek flock. In this way the Church undertook the task of the guardian of the Greek cultural legacy which is partly carried on even in our days, although diminished after independence.

The Ottoman occupation, apart from adding one more possession to the Ottoman Empire, detached Cyprus from the direct influence, cultural and economic, of the West and brought it directly under the influence of Ottoman despotism.

The heavy taxes and the abuses against the population on the part of the Ottoman conquerors in the early years after the Ottoman occupation gave rise to opposition, following which the Sultan, by order addressed to the Governor, the "Kadi" and the Treasurer, prohibited the oppression of his subjects and commanded the officers to govern with justice. While the Sultan's orders indicated his goodwill towards the local population, the Ottoman local administration proved indifferent, arbitrary and often corrupt, taking no measures whatsoever for the benefit of the people and the situation was aggravated by the heavy burden of taxes. Those collecting the taxes were trying by all means to extract as much money as they could by exploiting the local population.

Following the Ottoman conquest, many Greek Cypriots and Latins, in order to escape heavy taxation converted to Islam.

Many Greek Cypriots who had been converted to Islam remained actually Christians in secret. They were normally called "linobambaki". According to a view expressed for the first time in 1863 AD, and then adopted in the following years, this word was taken metaphorically from a cloth woven with linen and cotton and which had two different sides corresponding thus to the two aspects of their faith. The "linobambaki" turned up during daytime as Muslims, and in the evenings they appeared as Christians, keeping to the Christian religion, its customs and its habits.

The inhabitants of Cyprus, disappointed at the mismanagement of home affairs by the Ottoman governors, soon turned to Europe in search for help for liberation. Very characteristic is the appeal by Archbishop Timotheos to the King of Spain Philip II for liberation of the island, in which, among other things, the following is stated: "There have recently been repeated cases of abuse on the part of the organs of the conqueror; in a greedy manner they attempt to confiscate and seize the property of the inhabitants; Christian houses are broken into and domiciles violated, and all sorts of dishonest acts against wives and daughters are committed. Twice until now churches and monasteries have been plundered, multiple and heavy taxes have been imposed whose collection is pursued by systematic persecutions, threats and tortures, which lead many persons to the ranks of Islam, while at the same time the male children of Cypriot families are seized (in order to form the brigades of "Jannissaries"). This most hard practice is the worst of the sufferings to which the people of Cyprus is subjected by the Ottoman administration".

Between 1572 and 1668 AD about 28 bloody uprisings took place on the island and in many of these both Greeks and Turks (poor Turks were also exploited by the ruling class) took part. But all of them ended in failure.

About 1660 AD, in order to eliminate the greed of the Ottoman administration and stop the oppression and injustice against the people (who they called "rayahs", sheep for milking), the Sultan recognised the Archbishop and the Bishops as "the protectors of people" and the representatives of the Sultan. In 1670 AD, Cyprus ceased to be a "pasaliki" for the Ottoman Empire and came under the jurisdiction of the Admiral of the Ottoman fleet. In his turn, the Admiral sent an officer to govern in his place.

In 1703 AD Cyprus comes under the jurisdiction of the Grand Vizier who sent to the island a military and civil administrator. The title and function of this officer were awarded to the person who paid the highest amount of money in exchange. As a result, heavier taxation was imposed and the Cypriots became the subject of harder exploitation. About 1760 AD the situation in Cyprus was intolerable. A terrible epidemic of plague, bad crops and earthquakes, drove many Cypriots to emigrate. In addition what was worse for the Greeks and Turks of the island, the newly- appointed Pasha, doubled the taxes in 1764 AD. In the end Chil Osman and 18 of his friends were killed by Greek and Ottoman Cypriots alike but the two ethnic elements had to pay a huge sum of money to the Sultan and the families of the victims. It was assessed that each Christian had to pay 14 piastres and each Turk 7. The latter did not accept this judgement and broke into an open rebellion having Khalil Agha, the commander of the guard of the castle of Kyrenia as their leader. Finally the uprising was crushed and Khalil Agha was beheaded.

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.

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.

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.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Greek 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 with the foundation of EOKA, and in the closing years of the 1950s the political and intercommunal atmosphere on the island became increasingly fraught.

Independence was attained in 1960 after exhaustive negotiations between the United Kingdom, as the colonial power, and Greece and Turkey, the cultural 'motherlands' for two of the communities on Cyprus. The constitution produced by the negotiations was a binding document allocating government posts and public offices by ethnic quota. The constitution did not promote a healthy relationship between the residents of the island. The first President was the Greek Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios III, and his Vice President was the leading Turkish Cypriot politician Dr Fazýl Küçük.

Post-independence
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.

Tension began in 1963 when Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the awkward constitution of the Republic of Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots were opposed to the proposal since it relegated their status to a minority, instead of co-founders of the state, while also removing their community’s constitutional safeguards. These amendments were largely seen by Turkish Cypriots as a move towards Enosis (union with Greece). On 21 December 1963, clashes between Turkish Cypriots and Polycarpos Yorgadjis (the Interior Minister) plainclothes special constables left two Turkish Cypriots and one Greek Cypriot policeman dead. The ensuing violence led to attacks launched by both communities. The fighting left 191 Turkish and 133 Greek Cypriots dead and 209 Turks and 41 Greeks missing.

By 1974, dissatisfaction among Greek nationalist right-wing elements in favour of the long-term goal of Enosis precipitated a coup d'etat against President Makarios which was sponsored by the military government of 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. Seven days after these events, Turkey invaded Cyprus by sea and air on 20 July 1974, presenting the invasion as an act of protection for the island's 18% Turkish Cypriot minority. Talks in Geneva involving Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the two Cypriot factions failed in mid-August, and Turkish forces subsequently moved from the previous cease-fire lines to gain control of 37% of the island's territory. About 160,000 Greek Cypriots were uprooted (1/3 of the population), with Greek Cypriots forced to flee to the south as refugees, and approximately 50,000 Turkish Cypriots moved north. Greek Cypriot soldiers and civilians were taken prisoner, and 1,619 of those are still unaccounted for, with reports that many of them were killed after the cessation of violence. The Greek Junta made no armed response to the Turkish forces but collapsed within days. Greece, with the restoration of democratic rule, suspended military participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The tension continued after Makarios resumed the presidency on December 7, 1974. He accepted a bizonal bicommunal federation as the form of a future state, 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.

Since 1974, there have been continual efforts to negotiate a settlement, which met with varying levels of hostility from either side. Since 18% of the population was left in control of 37% of the territory, including some of the most fertile and productive land, the Turkish government arranged an influx of settlers from Turkey. Their exact numbers are disputed, but they are widely resented by Turkish Cypriots who regard them as Anatolian undesireables.

Turkish Cypriots proclaimed a separate state under Rauf Denktaþ on November 15, 1983. The UN Security Council, in its Resolution 541 of November 18, 1983, declared the action illegal and called for withdrawal. Turkey is the only country to date that recognises the government of the occupied part of Cyprus. Turkey does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus's authority over the whole island, and refers to it as the Greek Cypriot administration. This has led to complications in its bid to join the European Union.

Relations in the eastern Mediterranean were particularly frayed during the mid-1990s, especially in 1997 after the Cypriot government acquired Russian missiles capable of reaching the Turkish coast. The S-300 missiles never arrived in Cyprus, but stayed on the neighbouring island of Crete. The United States set an embargo on sale of arms to Turkey which was voted down a few years later after the invasion.

Cyprus joined the European Union as a full member in May 2004. Although it was the island as a whole which joined (including the occupied areas) the Acquis communautaire applies only to those (Greek) areas under the control of the Republic of Cyprus.

Since the invasion, the southern part of Cyprus has greatly grown economically, and the country enjoys a high standard of living. The north maintains a conspicuously lower standard of living due to the economic embargoes since its unilateral declaration of independence and because of the continued occupation.

Last update on 5 March 2008