The History of Cyprus

Podcast Transcript

Strategically located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, with access to Europe, Asia, and Africa, is the island of Cyprus.

Cyprus has a history that goes back as far as civilization itself, and it has had a history with almost every major civilization and empire around the Mediterranean..

Its history isn’t just a relic of the ancient world. It has remained strategically important and a source of conflict to the present day.

Learn more about Cyprus and its deep history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Cyprus has historically been one of the most important islands in the world. It sits at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa and has played a significant role in every major civilization and empire from Mesopotamia to the Strait of Gibraltar.

The earliest human presence on Cyprus dates back to around 10,000 BC, when hunter-gatherers first arrived, likely from the nearby Anatolian coast. These Paleolithic peoples left behind important archaeological evidence at sites like Aetokremnos, where they appear to have driven the island’s endemic pygmy hippopotamuses and elephants to extinction through hunting.

This was one of the great tragedies of early Cyprus, because we no longer have hippos and elephants that are the size of large dogs, which would be really awesome to have as pets.

The Neolithic period, beginning around 8200 BC, marked Cyprus’s first major cultural transformation. The people of Khirokitia developed a sophisticated society with distinctive round houses, advanced stone tools, and elaborate burial practices.

What makes this period particularly fascinating is that these Neolithic Cypriots lived for nearly two millennia without pottery, instead using carved stone vessels. This pottery-free period, unique in the Mediterranean, ended around 5500 BC when new settlers brought ceramic technology to the island.

The introduction of copper working around 3000 BC fundamentally altered Cyprus’s destiny. The island’s rich copper deposits, particularly in the Troodos Mountains, would give Cyprus its very name, derived from the Greek word “kypros” meaning copper.

This mineral wealth transformed Cyprus from a relatively isolated agricultural society into a major player in Bronze Age Mediterranean trade networks. The demand for Cypriot copper reached as far as Sardinia in the west and Mesopotamia in the east, establishing trade relationships that would persist for thousands of years.

During the Late Bronze Age, roughly 1600 to 1050 BC, Cyprus experienced what many historians consider its first golden age. The island developed a civilization that blended indigenous traditions with influences from neighboring cultures, particularly the Minoan and Mycenaean Greeks.

The Bronze Age Collapse, which took place around 1200 BC, brought major changes to Cyprus. The arrival of new peoples, including groups we might identify as early Greeks, occurred during this period.

Rather than destroying existing civilization, these newcomers seem to have gradually integrated with the existing population, creating the foundation for what would become classical Cypriot culture.

From 1050 to 480 BC, Cyprus developed its distinctive city-kingdom system. Ten major kingdoms emerged across the island, including Salamis, Paphos, Kition, and Amathus, each controlling surrounding agricultural territory and maintaining its own royal dynasty. This political fragmentation actually proved remarkably resilient and would persist in various forms for centuries.

What makes this period particularly interesting is how these Cypriot kingdoms navigated the rise of successive Near Eastern empires. When the Assyrian Empire expanded westward in the 8th century BC, the Cypriot kings chose submission over destruction, agreeing to pay tribute while maintaining their internal autonomy.

The kingdoms maintained this tributary relationship first with Assyria, then with Babylon, and finally with Persia after Cyrus the Great’s conquests in the 6th century BC.

During the Persian period, Cyprus became increasingly influenced by Greek culture, even as it remained politically integrated into the Persian Empire. This created cultural tensions that can still be observed in archaeological remains and historical accounts from the period.

The arrival of Alexander the Great in 333 BC marked another major turning point. Most Cypriot kings immediately switched allegiance from Persia to Macedonia, recognizing the shift in imperial power.

After Alexander’s death, Cyprus became part of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, which was Greek, beginning a period of Hellenistic rule that would last for over two centuries.

Cities like Salamis and New Paphos became major Hellenistic centers, complete with theaters, gymnasiums, and elaborate religious complexes. The famous mosaics of Paphos, which today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, date from this period and demonstrate the high level of artistic achievement reached under Ptolemaic Egypt.

Rome’s expansion into the Eastern Mediterranean inevitably brought Cyprus into the Roman sphere. In 58 BC, Cyprus was annexed directly by Rome, initially as part of the province of Cilicia. This transition marked the end of the last Hellenistic kingdom and the beginning of what would prove to be the longest continuous period of external rule in Cypriot history. Roman Cyprus was reorganized as a senatorial province in 27 BC, governed by a proconsul based in New Paphos.

Christianity arrived early in Cyprus, brought by the apostles Paul and Barnabas around 45 during their first missionary journey. According to Acts of the Apostles, they converted the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus, making Cyprus one of the first territories with a Christian governor.

The transition from Roman to Byzantine rule occurred gradually during the 4th and 5th centuries, as the Roman Empire’s center of gravity shifted eastward to Constantinople. For Cyprus, this was relatively smooth, as the island remained within the same imperial system as it transitioned into what we now call the Byzantine Empire.

Byzantine Cyprus faced its first major external threat in the 7th century with the rise of the Islamic Caliphate. The Arab raids beginning in 649 under Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan devastated many Cypriot cities and led to a unique political arrangement.

Rather than complete conquest by either power, Cyprus became a condominium, jointly administered by Byzantium and the Umayyad Caliphate. This arrangement, which lasted from roughly 688 to 965, required Cyprus to pay tribute to both powers while maintaining internal autonomy under a Byzantine governor.

Byzantine control was restored in 965 beginning a period of renewed prosperity and cultural development. The 10th and 11th centuries saw extensive church building and artistic patronage, producing some of Cyprus’s most remarkable Byzantine monuments.

The Crusades brought another dramatic transformation to Cyprus. In 1191, during the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart of England conquered the island from the Byzantine usurper Isaac Komnenos.

Initially, Richard intended for Cyprus to merely be a source of supplies and revenue for his crusading efforts in the Holy Land. However, recognizing the strategic importance of controlling Cyprus for maintaining crusader states in Syria and Palestine, he sold the island to Guy de Lusignan, the former king of Jerusalem.

The Lusignan dynasty, ruling from 1192 to 1489, created a unique Frankish kingdom in the middle of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Lusignans established a Western European feudal system while governing a predominantly Greek Orthodox population.

This created a complex social hierarchy with Catholic Frankish nobles at the top, a Greek Orthodox peasantry at the bottom, and various intermediate groups including Italian merchants, Armenian refugees, Jews, and others.

Lusignan Cyprus became one of the wealthiest kingdoms in medieval Europe, serving as the primary staging ground for crusading activities in the Levant. The port of Famagusta, in particular, became one of the richest cities in the world, with merchants from Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and other commercial centers maintaining permanent establishments there.

However, the fall of Acre in 1291 marked the end of the crusader states in the Holy Land, and began a gradual decline for Lusignan Cyprus. Without the lucrative trade generated by pilgrims and crusaders, the kingdom’s economy became increasingly dependent on the export of sugar, salt, and other agricultural products.

The final Lusignan rulers became increasingly dependent on Venice for financial and military support. When the widow of the last Lusignan king ceded Cyprus to Venice in 1489, she was acting on behalf of Venetian interests that had essentially controlled the island for decades.

Venetian rule, which lasted from 1489 to 1571, focused primarily on military defense and economic exploitation. Recognizing that Cyprus lay on the front lines of the expanding Ottoman Empire, Venice invested heavily in fortifications, particularly around Nicosia and Famagusta.

However, Venetian rule proved unpopular with most Cypriots. The Venetians imposed heavy taxation, restricted trade that might benefit competitors, and showed little respect for local Orthodox traditions.

Many Greek Orthodox Cypriots began to see Ottoman rule as preferable to the Venetians.

The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus in 1571 represented one of the most traumatic events in the island’s history. The siege of Nicosia lasted only 46 days, but the subsequent massacre of the city’s inhabitants became legendary throughout Christian Europe.

The Ottomans implemented their standard millet system, recognizing the Greek Orthodox Church as the representative of the Christian population. This gave the Orthodox clergy significant secular authority, including tax collection responsibilities, which they had never possessed under Catholic rule.

The early Ottoman period brought significant demographic and social changes. Many Venetians and Catholic Franks fled the island, while Muslim colonists, both Turkish and Turkish-speaking Christians who converted to Islam, were settled in their abandoned properties. However, the majority of the population remained Greek Orthodox, and the Ottoman administration generally respected existing local customs and land tenure systems.

However, the Greek War of Independence, beginning in 1821, brought disaster to Cyprus. Despite the island’s distance from the main theaters of conflict, the Ottoman authorities suspected the Orthodox clergy and community of supporting the Greek revolutionaries.

In July 1821, the Ottoman governor Küçük Mehmet ordered the execution of the Orthodox Archbishop and hundreds of other prominent Greek Cypriots, dealing a devastating blow to the community’s leadership and wealth.

The 19th century brought gradual modernization but also increasing problems for Ottoman Cyprus. The empire’s growing financial difficulties led to higher taxation, while the rise of Greek nationalism created new political tensions. Many Greek Cypriots began to identify with the newly independent Greek state, developing aspirations for union with Greece that would dominate Cypriot politics for the next century and a half.

British involvement in Cyprus began as a result of the Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878, which was a series of uprisings against Ottoman rule. As the Ottoman Empire struggled against Russian expansion and internal rebellion, Britain sought to maintain the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Cyprus Convention of 1878 gave Britain administrative control over Cyprus in exchange for guaranteeing Ottoman territorial integrity against Russian expansion. Technically, Cyprus remained Ottoman territory, but effective control was given to the British Colonial Office. One of the reasons why the British wanted Cyprus was as a base to protect the Suez Canal.

British rule brought significant modernization to Cyprus. However, British rule also intensified communal divisions on the island. The British implemented a constitutional system that formally recognized both Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, but this institutional recognition of ethnic divisions arguably made them more rigid and politically significant than they had been under Ottoman rule.

Britain outright annexed Cyprus in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I, later declaring it a Crown Colony in 1925.

An anti-colonial insurgency led by a group known as EOKA erupted in 1955 and ended with the Zurich-London agreements that created the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. The new nation’s constitution divided offices and seats between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, while three powers, Greece, Turkey, and Britain, guaranteed the island’s independence and constitutional order.

Britain retained two Sovereign Base Areas at Akrotiri and Dhekelia under the Treaty of Establishment, which they still control today.

Power-sharing soon faltered. Intercommunal violence in 1963 led to the collapse of many constitutional arrangements and to the creation of Turkish-Cypriot enclaves. In March 1964, the United Nations Security Council established UNFICYP (Un-fa-sip), a peacekeeping force that still patrols the buffer zone across the island.

The crisis deepened dramatically in 1974. A coup in Nicosia by Greek officers seeking union with Greece triggered a Turkish military intervention on July 20th, followed by a second offensive in August.

The UN Security Council called for a ceasefire and respect for Cypriot sovereignty, but fighting left Turkish forces in control of about a third of the island and displaced roughly two hundred thousand Greek Cypriots and tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots. The capital, Nicosia, became a divided city along the Green Line, and it remains so today.

Since 1974, every comprehensive settlement effort has wrestled with security guarantees, territory, property, and governance. The most ambitious, the United Nations’ Annan Plan, went to parallel referendums on April 24, 2004. Turkish Cypriot voters approved it by nearly 65 percent, while Greek Cypriot voters rejected it by about 76 percent, so the plan was not enacted.

The division of Cyprus is a very complex story that will be the subject of a future episode.

In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union and in 2008 adopted the Euro.

Today, Cyprus is a highly divided island. The Republic of Cyprus controls the southern part of the island and is controlled by ethic Greeks. The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus controls the northern third of the island and is only recognized by Turkey.

Between the two is a thin buffer zone controlled by the United Nations, and then there are the two sovereign bases, which the British control.

Visiting these various parts of the island actually isn’t hard. I flew into Cyprus and was able to walk over to North Cyprus easily. It was also possible to drive through the British areas.

The situation on Cyprus is basically a frozen conflict. Since 1974, little has changed on the ground, and the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus is one of the oldest in the world.

Hopefully, one day the situation will be resolved and it will just be considered another part of Cyprus’s long history.