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Neolithic people settled Cyprus more than 10,000 years ago. By 3900 BC copper tools were in use and by 2500 BC Cyprus was part of a Bronze Age civilization with links to Egypt, Asia Minor and the Aegean. In the 12th century BC Achaean Greeks began to oust the original Eteocypriot inhabitants.

By 1050 BC there were 10 city-states and a flourishing cult of Aphrodite. The wealth of Cyprus lured Phoenicians, who settled at Kition, as well as Assyrian, Egyptian and Persian invaders. In 325 BC Alexander the Great added Cyprus to his empire.

After Alexander’s death Cyprus fell to the Ptolemy dynasty of Alexandria until 58 BC, when the island was conquered by Rome. The saints Paul and Barnabas converted Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of Cyprus, to Christianity in AD 45.

From AD 330 Cyprus was ruled by Constantinople. Earthquakes destroyed coastal cities in the 4th century, but otherwise it was a period of peace. From the mid-7th century the island was devastated by Arab pirates who were not defeated by Emperor Nicephoros Phocas until 965.

Richard the Lionheart of England seized Cyprus from the Byzantines in 1191 and sold it to the Knights Templar, who in turn sold it to Guy de Lusignan, exiled King of Jerusalem. The Roman Catholic Church supplanted the Greek Orthodox faith.

Venice acquired Cyprus in 1489 from the widow of the last Lusignan king, and fortified Nicosia and Famagusta against the Ottomans, but in 1571 the island finally fell to the Turks.

The Turks restored the Orthodox faith whilst encouraging conversion to Islam. Cyprus was seen as a backwater until 1878, when Britain took over in return for supporting Turkey against Russia. In 1914 Britain formally annexed Cyprus.

Cyprus won independence from Britain on 16 August 1960 after a violent national liberation struggle by Greek Cypriots. However, friction between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities continued and in 1974 Athens engineered a coup against the Cypriot government with the aim of uniting Cyprus with Greece, while Turkey invaded to protect Turkish Cypriots. Since a ceasefire, the “Green Line”, patrolled by UN troops, divides the Turkish-occupied North from the south.

In 1983 the northern part of the island declared itself independent as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). It was, and continues to be, recognized only by Turkey.

In April 2003 the Turkish Cypriot authorities decided to allow free movement by Greek Cypriots and visitors to the north of the island. Members of both communities now visit the “other side” on a regular basis. Despite the failure of a UN plan for reunification, Cyprus became a full member of the European Union on 1 May, 2004.