12 ATLASES
History of Cyprus in maps
Cyprus as it appears in 12 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2015: Cyprus, Cyprus — Byzantine, then a crusader kingdom. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.
Free printable Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution study guide, sent by email ↓
What was Cyprus before it was Cyprus? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Cyprus · Ancient Rome
In 58 BC Rome annexed Ptolemaic Cyprus by senatorial decree. Cato was sent to take charge of the treasury; the king took poison, and Cato shipped 7,000 talents to Rome. The annexation served financial aims without requiring a battle. Copper and shipbuilding timber added to the island’s value. Antony briefly returned it to Cleopatra; under later Roman rule it prospered as a province and stayed with the eastern empire beyond the period of this atlas.
| 264 BC | Hellenistic kingdoms — the opening position |
| 50 BC | Roman territory |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus — Byzantine, then a crusader kingdom · Crusades
Cyprus belonged to Byzantium until Richard the Lionheart seized it in 1191. After a brief Templar interlude, it became a Lusignan crusader kingdom and lasted nearly four centuries. When the mainland fell in 1291, Cyprus remained the last Latin foothold. It survived under its own kings and then Venice until the Ottoman conquest of 1571, making it the crusades’ most durable territorial gain.
| Byzantium (and Latin Constantinople 1204–61) — the opening position | |
| Latin Christendom |
CRUSADES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · Industrial Revolution
| Opened by force or treaty — the opening position | |
| Opened by force or treaty |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
| Non-aligned or stateless — the opening position |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
Cyprus · Stalin’s Soviet Union
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · Road to WW2
| Colonial empires & possessions — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · WW2
| Western Allies — the opening position |
Cyprus · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Authoritarian, one-party or colonial rule — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Cyprus · Refugee crises
Between 1946 and 1949, British Cyprus held about 52,000 Jewish refugees intercepted on their way to Palestine. In camps near Famagusta, detainees organized schools and training farms behind the wire; about 2,000 children were born there. The last detainees left for Israel in early 1949. The island would later experience its own displacement.
| Western bloc or democracy — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Related
THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE
Get a printable atlas study guide of your choice free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul
NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME