Cyprus is a Eurasian island country in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the more popular tourist destinations.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Choirokoitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the Tombs of the Kings.
Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world, and is the site of the earliest known example of feline domestication. As a strategic location in the Middle East, Cyprus has been occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Hittites, Assyrians, Egyptians , Persians , Rashiduns, Umayyads, Lusignans, Venetians and Ottomans.
The island of Aphrotite was also controlled by their homogenous Ptolemais and Byzantines. In 333 B.C., Alexander the Great freed the island from the Persians. It was placed under British administration in 1878 until it was granted independence in 1960, becoming a member of the Commonwealth the following year.
The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over the entire island of Cyprus and its surrounding waters except small portions that are allocated by treaty to the United Kingdom as sovereign military bases.
The Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts, the area under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus, comprising about 59% of the island’s area and the Turkish-occupied area in the north, calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 37% of the island’s area and recognized only by Turkey.