History of Cyprus

Kingdom of Cyprus, 1192–1489 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Kingdom of Cyprus was a medieval kingdom of the Crusader states that existed between 1192 and 1489. Initially ruled as an independent Christian kingdom, it was established by the French House of Lusignan after the Third Crusade. It comprised the island of Cyprus and, on the Anatolia mainland, Antalya between 1361 and 1373, and Corycus between 1361 and 1448. The Kingdom of Cyprus had long been in decline and had been a tributary state of the Egyptian Mamluks since 1426.

Seat of power: Nicosia

Venetian Cyprus, 1489–1571 Draft, not yet reviewed

The island of Cyprus was an overseas possession of the Venetians from 1489, when the independent Kingdom of Cyprus ended, until 1571, when the island was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Under Caterina, who ruled Cyprus from 1474 to 1489, the island was controlled by Venetian merchants, and on March 14, 1489, she was forced to abdicate and cede the administration of the country to the Republic of Venice. The Venetians saw Cyprus primarily as a military base. Famagusta and Nicosia were ringed with massive earthworks, cased with stone.

Seat of power: Nicosia

Cyprus eyalet, 1571–1878 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Eyalet of Cyprus was an eyalet/province of the Ottoman Empire made up of the island of Cyprus, which was annexed into the Empire in 1571. The Ottomans changed the way they administered Cyprus multiple times. The fall of Famagusta marked the end of the Venetian rule and the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus, with Lala Mustafa Pasha becoming the island's first Turkish Governor.

Seat of power: Nicosia

British Cyprus, 1878–1960 Draft, not yet reviewed

British Cyprus was the island of Cyprus under the dominion of the British Empire, administered sequentially from 1878 to 1914 as a British protectorate, from 1914 to 1925 as an annexed military occupation zone, and from 1925 to 1960 as a Crown colony. A British protectorate under nominal Ottoman suzerainty was established over Cyprus by the Cyprus Convention of 4 June 1878, following the Russo-Turkish War, in exchange for British support of the Ottomans during the Congress of Berlin. The Cyprus Emergency primarily consisted of a campaign by the Greek Cypriot military group EOKA to remove the British from Cyprus so it could be unified with Greece. The United Kingdom granted independence to Cyprus on 16 August 1960 and formed the Republic of Cyprus.

Seat of power: Nicosia

Republic of Cyprus, 1960 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

Following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup d'état was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta. This action precipitated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July, which captured the present-day territory of Northern Cyprus and displaced over 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots. A separate Turkish Cypriot state in the north was established by unilateral declaration in 1983, which was widely condemned by the international community and remains recognised only by Turkey.

Seat of power: Nicosia

Rulers

• Makarios III, President of Cyprus, 1960–1977
• Spiros Cyprianou, President of Cyprus, 1977–1988
• Giorgos Vasiliou, President of Cyprus, 1988–1993
• Glafcos Clerides, President of Cyprus, 1993–2003
• Tassos Papadopoulos, President of Cyprus, 2003–2008
• Dimitris Christofias, President of Cyprus, 2008–2013
• Nikos Anastasiades, President of Cyprus, 2013–2023
• Nicos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus, 2023 to today