Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean. The landscape varies between rugged coastlines, sandy beaches, rocky hills and forest-covered mountains. The Troodos Mountains in the center of the island rise to almost 1,952m (6,400ft) and provide skiing during the winter. Between these and the range of hills which run eastward along the north coast and the ‘panhandle’ is the fertile Messaoria Plain. The Morphou Basin runs around the coast of Morphou Bay in the west.
The capital of Cyprus since the 12th century, Nicosia stands at the heart of the Mesaoria Plain. It is currently divided by the ‘Green Line’, a UN buffer zone that separates the Turkish-occupied north of the island and the Government-controlled south. The Old City, which is being renovated in part, is defined by 16th-century walls built by the Venetians. Among attractions and points of interest are the Cyprus Museum, a storehouse of the island’s archaeological treasures, the Folk Art Museum, the new Archbishop’s Palace, St John’s Cathedral, Byzantine churches, the Byzantine Museum/Makarios Cultural Center and the Ömeriye Mosque.
History
Since 1974, Cyprus has been divided de facto into the government-controlled two-thirds of the island and the remaining one-third of the island, which is administered by Turkish Cypriots. Greek and Turkish Cypriots share many customs but maintain distinct identities based on religion, language, and close ties with their respective "motherlands." Greek is predominantly spoken in the south, Turkish in the north. English is widely used. Cyprus has a well-developed system of primary and secondary education. The majority of Cypriots earn their higher education at Greek, Turkish, British, and other European or American universities. Both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities have developed private colleges and state-supported universities.
Cypriot culture is among the oldest in the Mediterranean. By 3700 BC, the island was well inhabited, a crossroads between East and West. The island fell successively under Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman domination. For 800 years, beginning in 364 AD, Cyprus was ruled by Byzantium. After brief possession by King Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) of England during the Crusades, the island came under Frankish control in the late 12th century. It was ceded to the Venetian Republic in 1489 and conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1571. The Ottomans 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. Most of the Turks who settled on the island during the three centuries of Ottoman rule remained when control of Cyprus--although not sovereignty--was ceded to Great Britain in 1878. Many left for Turkey during the 1920s, however. The island was annexed formally by the United Kingdom in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I and became a crown colony in 1925.
Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom and established a constitutional republic in 1960, after an anti-British campaign by the Greek Cypriot EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters), a guerrilla group that desired political union, or enosis, with Greece. Archbishop Makarios, a charismatic religious and political leader, was elected president.
Alphabetical Listing of Hotels in Cyprus
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF HOTELS WITH PAYMENT DIRECTLY AT THE HOTEL FRONT DESK
