The recorded history of Cyprus begins with the occupation of part of the island by Egypt about or just before 1450 BC, during the reign of Thutmose III. In subsequent centuries seafaring and trading peoples from the Mediterranean countries set up scattered settlements along the coasts.
The first Greek colony is believed to have been founded by traders from Arcadia about 1400 BC. The Phoenicians began to colonize the island about 800 BC.
Beginning with the rise of Assyria during the 8th century BC, Cyprus was under the control of each of the empires that successively dominated the eastern Mediterranean. Assyrian authority was followed by Egyptian occupation (550 BC), then Persian (525 BC). During the Persian occupation King Evagoras I, ruler of the Cypriot city of Salamis, made the first recorded attempt to unify the city-states of Cyprus. In 391 BC Evagoras, with the aid of Athens, led a successful revolt against Persia and temporarily made himself master of the island. Shortly after his death, however, Cyprus again became a Persian possession.
For almost a thousand years thereafter control of the island passed from empire to empire. Alexander the Great took Cyprus from Persia in 333 BC, and after his death in 323 BC the island again became an Egyptian possession, under the Ptolemies. Rome gained control in 58 BC. In AD 1191 Cyprus was seized by Richard I of England, who gave it to Guy of Lusignan, titular king of Jerusalem. The Lusignan dynasty built several large forts and castles, some of which are still standing. In 1489, Venice took control of Cyprus. The Ottoman Empire captured the island in 1571 and held it until 1878, when it was defeated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 and 1878. Fearing greater expansion by Russia, the Ottoman government induced the British to administer Cyprus.
In 1958 the British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan prepared new proposals for Cyprus but his plan, which was a form of partition, was rejected by Archbishop Makarios. The Archbishop declared that he would only accept a proposal which guaranteed independence, excluding both Enosis (Cyprus becoming part of Greece) and partition.
This sort of proposal was then discussed in NATO. A final agreement was reached in Zurich on 11 February 1959, and ratified during the London Conference the same month. Although the agreements were not very positive for Cyprus, Makarios had to accept them for fear that, if the British withdrew from Cyprus and abandoned the Greek population, Turkish troops might have invaded the island.
The agreement soon proves unworkable. Constitutional amendments proposed in 1963 lead to rebellion from the Turkish Cypriot community, and Turkey threatens to invade.
In July 1974 a military junta ruling Greece instigates a coup against the Cyprus government and with that as a pretext Turkey launches an invasion, ultimately capturing the northern 37 percent of the island and violently displacing thousands of people. Thousands of civilians are killed. Forty percent of the Greek Cypriot population is uprooted, their homes and businesses seized. An estimated 35,000 Turkish troops remain in illegally occupied northern Cyprus and a United Nations-mandated peacekeeping force monitors an island-wide buffer zone that also runs through the centre of the capital, Lefkosia (Nicosia). The Turkish military occupation continues despite universal condemnation and ongoing negotiations and mediation efforts.
The agreement soon proves unworkable. Constitutional amendments proposed in 1963 lead to rebellion from the Turkish Cypriot community, and Turkey threatens to invade.
In July 1974 a military junta ruling Greece instigates a coup against the Cyprus government and with that as a pretext Turkey launches an invasion, ultimately capturing the northern 37 percent of the island and violently displacing thousands of people. Thousands of civilians are killed. Forty percent of the Greek Cypriot population is uprooted, their homes and businesses seized. An estimated 40,000 Turkish troops remain in illegally occupied northern Cyprus and a United Nations-mandated peacekeeping force monitors an island-wide buffer zone that also runs through the centre of the capital, Lefkosia (Nicosia). The Turkish military occupation continues despite universal condemnation and ongoing negotiations and mediation efforts.
An independent republic since 1960, Cyprus has a presidential system of democratic government with free elections held every five years for President and Members of Parliament. Despite ongoing talks, a solution to the “Cyprus Problem” has yet to be found; however, there has been no violent conflict since 1974 and the country is among the most stable in the region. The Republic of Cyprus is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Culturally a Western nation, Cyprus has joined the European Union in on May 1, 2004.