History of Cyprus - Overview
Prehistory
ca. 8.500: Possible first human settlement by epipalaeolithic hunters and gatherers at Aetokremnos.
7000-5300 BCE: Neolithic
ca. 7000: Settlement of the island by Neolithic farmers from the Levant (PPN B) who introduced domesticated wheat, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs and fallow deer, wild foxes and tamed cats.
6th Millennium: aceramic Khirokitia-culture with round houses
4500-4000: first pottery produced during the Sotira-Phase
4000-2500 Chalcolithic
Erimi-Phase (Chalcolithic I), copper known, but used sparingly
Ambelikou/Ayios Georghios (Chalcolithic II)
2700-1050 Bronze Age
2700-1900: Early Bronze age. First rectangular houses, re-introduction of cattle from Anatolia, introduction of plough. Strong Anatolian influences
Enkomi-phase: first cities, Systematic copper mining and trade
1900-1600: Middle Bronze Age
1600-1050: Late Bronze Age, First use of The Cypriot syllabic script in (LCIB).
1300-1200 BC Late Cypriot (LC) IIC, local prosperity, re-building of cities.
1200-1100 BC: end of the late Bronze Age (LCIIIA). Local production of so-called Mycenaean pottery
1100-1050: latest bronze Age (LCIIIB,), introduction of a a new type of grave, Mycenean influences in pottery decoration, interpreted by some as an invasion from the Greek mainland.
1125-1050: Submycenean period.
1050-700: Iron Age
1050-750: Geometric period
8th Century: foundation of numerous Phoenician colonies
Ancient history
709: Assyrian conquest of Cyprus by king Sargon II (721-705 BC) of Assyria.
669/663: Independent city-kingdoms
570: conquest by the Egyptians under Amasis.
around 500: first Cypriote coins, using the Persian weight system.
499: Kingdoms of Cyprus take part in the Ionian rising under Onesilos of Salamis.
defeat of the Cypriote kings, re-conquest of the island.
Around 450: increased importance of Kition.
450 Phoenician rulers in Salamis
411 The Teucrid Evagoras I regains the throne of Salamis.
around 400: Evagoras attempts an independent rule oy Cyprus with Athenian help.
Ca. 380: Persian reconquest,
386: treaty of Antakidas, Persian rule over Cyprus accepted by Athens.
350 Cypriote rebellion, crushed by Artaxerxes in 344.
351-332 Pnythagoras of Salamis and other Cypriote kings go over to Alexander during the siege of Tyre.
331-310 Nicocreon
310-306 Menelaos is made satrap of Cyprus.
306-301 Antigonus
301-30 BC Ptolemaic Lagid Dynasty
116 BC Ptolemy Philometor sent to Cyprus by his mother Cleopatra
109 BC Alexander the brother of Ptolemy sent to Cyprus by his mother Cleopatra.
107 BC Alexander returns from Cyprus and is made king of Egypt. Ptolemy campaigns in Palestine.
58 BC Cyprus becomes a Roman province.
51 BC Cyprus placed under the rule of Cleopatra by Julius Caesar.
30 BC Cyprus reverts to Roman rule.
45 AD Saint Paul, St Barnabas and St Mark introduce Christianity to Cyprus and convert the Roman governor Sergius Paulus
115-116 AD A messianic Jewish revolt results in the massacre of 240,000 Cypriots. Trajan intervenes to restore the peace and expels the Jews from Cyprus.
335 The revolt of the usurper Calocaerus is omated by Flavius Dalmatius.
c.350 AD Salamis is rebuilt by Constantius II the son of Constantine after being destroyed by earthquakes and is renamed Constantia.
Byzantine period, Arab Condominium, Crusades, Lusignan Dynasty and Venice
395 AD Cyprus becomes part of the Byzantine Empire.
649 The Arabs invade and pillage Cyprus sacking the city of Salamis.
654 The Arabs invade Cyprus again and occupy it with a garrison of 20,000 men.
683 The Arab garrison is withdrawn after the Arabs are defeated by Constantine IV.
688 Cyprus is declared neutral.
965 Cyprus is restored to Byzantine rule by Nicepheros Phokas
1185-1192 Cyprus independent Empire under Isaak Comnenus
1191 Richard the Lionheart sacks Famagousta and sells Cyprus to the Knights Templar.
1192 The Knights Templar sell Cyprus to Guy de Lusignan, the exiled king of Jerusalem.
1194 Amaury introduces a feudal system to Cyprus.
c.1300 The Orthodox Church of Cyprus is given religious freedom
1489 The Venetians take control of Cyprus and the Greek Orthodox Church is given full religious freedom.
1570 The Ottomans invade Cyprus. Famagusta is held under siege.
Ottoman Empire
1571 The Ottomans take Famagusta, Cyprus becomes a part of the Ottoman Empire.
1572-1668 Twenty eight bloody uprisings
1625-1700 Great depopulation of Cyprus. The plague wipes out over half of the population
1821 Greek Cypriots side with Greece in a revolt against Turkish rule. The island's leading churchmen are executed as punishment. 20,000 Christians flee the island.
1869 The Suez Canal opens.
Modern History
Overview
Following the Ottoman Empires defeat in World War I, Cyprus was annexed by Britain in 1925 and made a crown colony. Between 1955-59 EOKA was created by Greek Cypriots and led by George Grivas which targeted mainly British but also Turkish Cypriots and leftist Greeks at a smaller scale, in a campaign of violence to perform enosis (union of the island with Greece). However the EOKA campaign did not result union with Greece but rather an independent republic, The Republic of Cyprus, with two communal chambers in 1960.
Timeline
1878-1960: British occupation. The British take over the administration of the island, ceded by the Ottomans, for its strategic value, to protect their sea route to India via the Suez Canal. In exchange, Britain agrees to help Turkey against future Russian attacks.
Crown commissioners:
Sir Robert Biddulph (1880-?)
Sir Walter Sendall (1892-1898)
Sir Charles King-Harman (1904-1910)
1914: Cyprus is annexed by Britain when Turkey joins with Germany and Austro-Hungary in World War I.
1925: Cyprus becomes a British Crown Colony.
Governors: Sir Richmond Palmer
1931: First serious riots of Greek Cypriots demanding Enosis, the union with Greece. The government-house in Nikosia is burned down and martial law is declared afterwards and the legislative council is abolished. The display of the Greek flag and the Greek National anthem were banned.
1939: Greek Cypriots fight with the British in World War II, but remain set on Enosis after the war is over. The Turkish Cypriots, however want the British rule to continue.
1950: Archbishop Makarios III is elected as political and spiritual leader. Makarios becomes the head of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church and heads the campaign for Enosis with the support of Greece.
1955: A series of bomb attacks starts a violent campaign for Enosis by EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) led by George Grivas, an ex-colonel in Greek army, born in Cyprus. Grivas takes name of Dighenis, legendary Cypriot hero and conducts guerrilla warfare from a secret hideout in the Troodos Mountains. He is estimated to have 300 men at maximum, yet successfully plagues 20,000 British troops and 4,500 police.
1956: Britain deports Makarios to the Seychelles in attempt to quell the revolt. Turkish Cypriots are used as auxiliaries of British Security Forces, and become one of the major targets of the EOKA.
1957: Field Marshal Sir John Harding is replaced by the civilian governor Sir Hugh Foot in a conciliatory move.
1958: Turkish Cypriots are alarmed by British conciliation and begin demands for partition. There are inter-communal clashes and attacks on British.
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