Cyprus

Cyprus is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon. Nicosia is the capital and largest city, and Greek and Turkish are the official languages, while English remains in wide use from colonial times. Since 1974 the island has been divided along a UN buffer zone, with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey, in the north.

Hunter-gatherers reached the island around 13,000 years ago, and farming villages followed by 8500 BC. Copper from the Troodos Mountains drove Bronze Age trade, and Latin named the metal after the island. Mycenaean Greeks settled from the end of the 2nd millennium BC, and Greek myth made Cyprus the birthplace of Aphrodite. Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians ruled in turn until Alexander the Great took it in 333 BC. Richard I of England seized it during the Third Crusade in 1191, the Lusignan family founded a kingdom, Venice annexed it in 1489 and the Ottomans ruled from 1571 to 1878.

Britain took over administration in 1878, annexed the island in 1914 and made it a crown colony in 1925. British rule ended with independence on 16 August 1960. Since 1974 the island has been divided, with a Turkish Cypriot administration in the north. The north declared its own state in 1983. The Republic of Cyprus is a presidential republic; a reunification plan was put to a vote in 2004.

Cyprus joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and the eurozone in 2008, and Britain keeps two sovereign military bases on the south coast, Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Tourism, financial services and shipping lead the economy, and natural gas has been found offshore south of Limassol. Mount Olympus in the Troodos range reaches 1,952 m (6,404 ft). The Venetians built the walls of Nicosia, and halloumi cheese and souvla are shared by both communities.