It is not possible to say when the first inhabitants of Cyprus lived, but it is believed possible that as long ago as 8,500 B.C. there were settlements on Cyprus.

Cyprus has had many names, but the name we use now is believed to have come from the word copper of which there was and possibly still is, an abundance on the island. An alternative theory is that its name comes from the word Kypros (the Greek from henna) of which there was also an abundance. No one knows for sure. Cyprus has had a troubled history. The abundance of copper, timber, and the strategic location between East and West resulted in repeated invasions, changes of rulers, and strife for the inhabitants. Before the annexation to Rome in 58 B.C. Phoenicians, Archeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians and Greek colonized Cyprus.

In 43 A.D. Christianity came to Cyprus and in 330 A.D. Cyprus became part of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. And so it remained until 1191 when Richard the Lionheart, on his way to the Holy Land of fight the 3rd Crusade, conquered the island. A year later Richard sold the island to the Knights Templar for 100,000 Byzants. The Knights Templar, unable to exploit the island satisfactorily, then returned the island to Richard who sold it to the French nobleman Guy de Lusignan. The Lusignan dynasty ruled the island for the next three hundred years, a rule that was often oppressive, effectively reducing Cypriots to serfdom.

In 1489 the Lusignan King James died leaving the Kingdom to his Venetian wife who abdicated giving the island to Venice. The Venetians saw Cyprus primarily as a military base and built fortifications all over the islans. Cypriots, at that time, were seen merely as a population to be taxed as much as possible. In fact, it is said that Venetian rule was so unpleasant that when the Ottoman arrived in Cyprus in 1571 the locals felt as it they had been liberated from slavery. The Ottomans abolished serfdom and instated the Orthodox Churc as the Church, of Cyprus. Tey also made being Catholic a punishable offence, so Cypriots had to choose between Orthodox Christianity and Islam. The majority chose Christianity, but the result was that the population began to take on the ethnic structure it still possesses today, namely Greek and Turkish.

The Ottoman Empre entered the First World War on the side of Germany and emerged defeated. Partly occupied of foreign powers and with harsh restrictions imposed, Cyprus beacame a part of the British colonies following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1925. In 1960 the Treaty of Zurich was signed to give independence to Cyprus whilst protecting the rights of Turkish Cypriot population. The guarantors of this treaty were Britain, Grece and Turkey. In 1963 relations between the two communities, seperated by language, culture and religion, had deteriorated. 13 articles of the Constitution were attempted to be changed in favour of the Greek Cypriot community, also disarming the Turkish Cypriot Police and established the National Greek Cypriot Guards. These measures were in clear contravention of the Treaty of Zurich. Civil war began, and the United Nations sent in troops in an attempt to restore peace, creating the Gren Line, which effectively divided the communities.

In 1974 Greece attempted a military coup in conjunction with the Greek National Guard in a bid to achieve ENOSIS (Idea of Union with Greece). On the 20th July 1974, Turkey, after consultation with Britain, intervened military, namely with a Peace-Keeping Action to protect the Turkish Cypriot community. This was in exercise of the powers og guarantee agreed in the Treaty of Zurich. Since this time the island had remained divided. On the 15th November 1983 The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded. It is a fully democratic state and with the exception of a few border incidents, internal peace has been established.