Cyprus

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Cyprus fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇮🇶 Neo-Assyrian Empire709 BC to 669 BC

   Around 707 BC Sargon II recorded the submission of seven kings of Cyprus on a stele set up at Kition, and later Assyrian kings listed Cypriot rulers among their tributaries.

2. 🇮🇷 Achaemenid Empire499 BC to 380 BC

   The Cypriot kingdoms joined the Ionian revolt in 499 BC and were crushed. Evagoras I of Salamis later fought Persia for about a decade, keeping his throne as a vassal in 380 BC.

3. Umayyad Caliphate649 to 965

   Muawiya's fleets raided Cyprus from 649. After the 688 agreement it was shared with Byzantium, still suffering raids, until the Byzantine reconquest of 965.

4. 🇬🇧 Richard I of England1191

   Sailing to the Third Crusade, Richard I quarrelled with the island's ruler, Isaac Komnenos, conquered Cyprus in a few weeks, then sold it to the Templars, who passed it to Guy of Lusignan.

5. 🇮🇹 Republic of Genoa1373 to 1464

   After a riot in Famagusta against Genoese merchants, Genoa invaded in 1373 and kept Famagusta, the island's main port, until King James II retook it in 1464.

6. 🇪🇬 Mamluk Sultanate1424 to 1426

   In reply to Cypriot piracy, the Mamluks of Egypt raided the island and in 1426 defeated King Janus at Khirokitia, sacked Nicosia and made the kingdom a tributary of Cairo.

7. 🇹🇷 Ottoman Empire1570 to 1571

   Ottoman forces landed in 1570, stormed Nicosia and besieged Famagusta until August 1571. The war over Cyprus brought about the Holy League and its naval victory at Lepanto that October.

8. 🇬🇧 British Empire1955 to 1959

   EOKA fought British rule with bombings and ambushes from 1955. Britain exiled Archbishop Makarios in 1956 and fought a hard counterinsurgency until the 1959 agreements.

9. 🇬🇷 Greek military junta1974

   The colonels ruling Greece backed a coup by Cypriot National Guard officers against Makarios on 15 July 1974, aiming at union with Greece. It gave Turkey its reason to invade, and the junta fell days later.

10. 🇹🇷 TurkeySince 1974Still open

    Turkey invaded in July 1974 and still keeps troops in the north, recognising the breakaway state there. It also disputes Cypriot gas exploration rights offshore. Reunification talks have been stalled since 2017.

Today

Cyprus now

A former British colony, Cyprus became independent in 1960 after years of resistance to British rule. Tensions between the Greek Cypriot majority and Turkish Cypriot minority came to a head in December 1963, when violence broke out in the capital of Nicosia. Despite the deployment of UN peacekeepers in 1964, sporadic intercommunal violence continued and forced most Turkish Cypriots into enclaves throughout the island.

Capital

Nicosia

Government

Republic of Cyprus - presidential republic; self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" (TRNC) - parliamentary republic with enhanced presidency

Languages

Greek, Turkish

Area

9,250 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population1.3 million2023 · 493,900 in 1950
• Life expectancy81.6 years2023 · 55.8 years in 1950
• GDP per person$31,5232022 · $2,885 in 1950
• Living in cities67%2025 · 22% in 1950
• Literacy99%2011 · 63% in 1950
• Political regimeLiberal democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending1.6% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.