The first inhabitants of Cyprus were those during the Neotholic Age, approximately eight thousand and two hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Since, the island has also been inhabited by humans.
During the Iron age, Cyprus was conquered many times and experienced short periods of freedom in between. Eventually, the island fell under Persian domination and subjection, struggling for freedom. However, with the help of the Greeks, the islanders managed to gain freedom and organise their own independent kingdoms.
However, it was not long before Alexander the Great took control of Cyprus (around three hundred years before the birth of Christ) and his successors were later in power. The next ones were the Romans. But the Roman were particularly important to the History of the country, it is under them that the spread of Christianity spread, something that most Cypriots are still proud of today.
Cyprus was then part of the Byzantine empire and later under Frankish rule, with the threat of Muslim Turkey nearby. In fact, Islam grew on the island even more when it became part of the Ottoman empire. But being in a strategic position, Cyprus became part of the British Empire in 1914. This was as agreed in return for British protection of Turkey from the Russians, who were always a threat.
The Cypriots fought for the British Empire during the two world wars, but no no fighting took place on the island, with it seeming to small for the big scale wars. However, many people wanted independence after those wars. This eventually ended in an armed struggle, with Greek Nationalist groups demanding a union with Greece. This immediately put Turkey on alert.
However, the Zurich and London Agreements were signed, creating the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, a democratic independent state. The flag of this country was chosen by a citizen contest, with it not allowed to have any blue (which would represent Greece), red (as it represents Turkey), the Muslim moon and star or the Christian cross. Under the constitution, the President would be an ethnic a Greek and the Vice President a Turk. Additionally, seven ministers would be greeks and three Turks. The Parliament of this Presidential Republic, would have eighty seats, with fifty six being for greeks. The two official languages would be both Greek and Turkish. The British would however, still keep their military bases.
This principle worked well. However, the popularity of the first President, Archbishop Mariakos was rather low. This led to a coup by Greek Nationalists who seized power. The Turks said that this was a clear violation if the Zurich and London agreements. They then invaded the northern part of the island, which is around one third in total, including half of the capital, Nicosia. However, in a few weeks, the Mariakos government was back in power. The turks said they no longer trusted the Greeks and refused to return the land to the Republic of Cyprus, leading to international outage.
Turkey then granted independence to the Northern part of Cyprus, recognising it as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Ethnic and religious tensions were once again present. But the United Nations, negotiating with the two sides established a buffer zone between the two territories to prevent the outbreak of another war. Most Muslim Turks moved to Northern Cyprus and vice versa for the Christian Greeks.
Since then, Republic of Cyprus developed and later joined the European Union, with their Northern neighbours not doing as well. Since them, Cyprus remains a divided island, especially after a proposal was refused by Greek Cypriot voters to unify the island, as the people disagreed with the terms. But new hope has come, Mustafa Akıncı has been elected as President of Northern Cypruthis year, who said he wishes to negoicate with Cyprus to unify the island...
