History of Cyprus Timeline

Beginning with Muawiyah's raid in 649 AD, Arab fleets repeatedly attacked Cyprus during the Byzantine-Arab wars. For centuries the island suffered as a contested frontier zone, at times nominally shared between Byzantium and the Caliphate.

Image source: Arab–Byzantine wars

Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas expelled Arab forces from Cyprus in 965, restoring full Byzantine control after three centuries of raids and condominium. The island then enjoyed renewed prosperity under imperial administration.

Image source: Nikephoros II Phokas

In 1184, Isaac Komnenos declared himself ruler of Cyprus, breaking away from the weakening Byzantine Empire. His self-styled 'emperor' rule lasted until Richard the Lionheart arrived during the Third Crusade and captured the island.

Image source: Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus

While en route to the Holy Land during the Third Crusade, England's Richard I seized Cyprus after defeating Isaac Komnenos. He married Berengaria of Navarre at Limassol, crowning her Queen of England on Cypriot soil.

Image source: Third Crusade

Guy of Lusignan purchased Cyprus from the Templars and established a Crusader kingdom in 1192. The Lusignan dynasty ruled for nearly three centuries, blending French feudal culture with Greek Orthodox traditions of the island's population.

Image source: Kingdom of Cyprus

Amid a war between Genoa and the Lusignan kingdom triggered by the murder of a Genoese nobleman, Genoa seized the port city of Famagusta in 1373. It remained a wealthy Genoese colony until Venice acquired it in 1464.

Image source: Famagusta

When Queen Caterina Cornaro, the last Lusignan monarch, abdicated in favor of the Republic of Venice in 1489, Cyprus became a Venetian colony. Venice fortified the island heavily, especially Nicosia and Famagusta, against Ottoman expansion.

Image source: Venetian Cyprus

Ottoman forces invaded Cyprus in July 1570, capturing Nicosia after a bloody siege and taking Famagusta in August 1571 following a heroic ten-month defense led by Marcantonio Bragadin. The fall of Cyprus shocked Christian Europe shortly before the Battle of Lepanto.

Image source: Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573)

After the conquest, the Ottoman Empire resettled Anatolian Muslim farmers and soldiers on the island, laying the foundations of the Turkish Cypriot community. Cyprus was organized into an Ottoman eyalet administered from Nicosia.

Under the secret Cyprus Convention of 1878, Britain took administrative control of the island in exchange for supporting the Ottoman Empire against Russia. When the Ottomans joined World War I on the German side, Britain formally annexed Cyprus in November 1914.

Image source: British Cyprus

Michael Christodoulou Mouskos, who would become Archbishop Makarios III, the spiritual leader of the Greek Cypriots and first President of independent Cyprus, was born near Paphos in 1913. His leadership would dominate mid-20th-century Cypriot politics.

Image source: Makarios III

Following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, in which Turkey renounced all claims to the island, Britain declared Cyprus a crown colony in 1925, placing it under direct colonial administration with a governor appointed from London.

The Greek Cypriot organization EOKA, led by Colonel Georgios Grivas with support from Archbishop Makarios, began an armed campaign for union of Cyprus with Greece (enosis). The insurgency prompted emergency rule, arrests, and negotiations that eventually reshaped the island's status.

Image source: Cyprus Emergency

Agreements brokered among Britain, Greece, and Turkey in Zürich and London in February 1959 set out the framework for Cypriot independence rather than enosis. They established a bicommunal constitution and guaranteed the involvement of Greece, Turkey, and Britain in the new state.

Image source: London and Zürich Agreements

Cyprus emerged as an independent republic on August 16, 1960, with Archbishop Makarios III as its first president and Dr. Fazıl Küçük as vice president. Britain retained sovereignty over two military bases, Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

Constitutional disputes between Greek and Turkish Cypriots erupted into deadly intercommunal clashes beginning in December 1963. Hundreds died, Turkish Cypriots withdrew into enclaves, and UN peacekeeping forces (UNFICYP) were deployed in March 1964, remaining to this day.

Image source: Bloody Christmas (1963)

On July 15, 1974, the Greek junta backed a coup by Cypriot nationalists that overthrew President Makarios III, seeking union with Greece. The coup provided Turkey with a pretext to intervene militarily five days later, triggering the island's partition.

Turkey invaded northern Cyprus on July 20, 1974, citing its role as a guarantor power. By mid-August Turkish forces controlled roughly 36% of the island. About 160,000 Greek Cypriots fled south and some 50,000 Turkish Cypriots moved north, dividing the island de facto along the Green Line.

Image source: Turkish invasion of Cyprus

The Turkish Cypriot leadership proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in November 1983 under Rauf Denktaş. Only Turkey has recognized the state; the international community considers it occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus.

Image source: Northern Cyprus

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reunification plan was voted on simultaneously in both communities. While Turkish Cypriots approved it by nearly 65%, Greek Cypriots rejected it overwhelmingly, leaving the island divided when it entered the EU a week later.

On May 1, 2004, the Republic of Cyprus acceded to the European Union as a whole, although EU law is suspended in the north due to the ongoing division. Membership anchored the island economically and politically within Europe.

Image source: Northern Cyprus–European Union relations

Cyprus replaced the Cypriot pound with the euro on January 1, 2008, joining the Eurozone. The transition marked a major step in integrating the island's services-driven economy into the European financial system.

Image source: Economy of Cyprus

Significant offshore natural gas reserves were identified in Cyprus's exclusive economic zone starting in 2011, notably at the Aphrodite field. The discoveries promised economic transformation but also heightened regional tensions with Turkey over drilling rights.

Image source: Energy in Cyprus

Exposure to Greek debt and losses in Cypriot banks triggered a severe crisis. In March 2013, Cyprus accepted a €10 billion bailout from the EU and IMF, which imposed an unprecedented 'bail-in' of uninsured depositors, shaking confidence but stabilizing the economy.

Image source: 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis