Wednesday, 20. June 2012 Website Admin
circa 9000 B.C.
Earliest settlement of the island.
2300–1050 B.C.
Mycenaeans and Achaeans from Peloponnese in Greece arrive in Cyprus; discovery of copper on the island brings trade and wealth.
709–333 B.C.
Alternating reign of Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians.
58 B.C.–395
Roman era; Julius Caesar and later Marc Antony give Cyprus to Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, as proof of passion; in 45 A.D. the apostles Paul and Barnabas succeed in converting the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus to Christianity; Cyprus becomes the world’s first country to be governed by a Christian.
395–1191
Byzantine period; recurrent Arab raids.
1191–1570
Richard the Lionheart occupies the island during his crusade to the Holy Land and sells it to the Order of the Knights Templar, who cede the isle to the French crusader, Guy de Lusignan; reign of the Franks until 1489, subsequently Venetian reign.
1571–1878
Cyprus is a province in the Ottoman Empire.
1878
Cyprus is leased to Great Britain; in 1925 the island becomes a British crown colony.
1960
Cyprus becomes an independent republic.
1963
Facing conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots, the country is on the brink of civil war.
1974
After a military coup against president Makarios, which is initiated by the junta in Greece, military intervention of Turkish troops; territorial division of the country.
1983
Foundation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; the state is not internationally recognised.
2004
The Republic of Cyprus becomes a member state of the European Union.
: H