Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean with an area of 9.251 km².
It is located in the north-eastern area of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Egypt's Nile Delta, west of Syria and south of Turkey. It has a population of approximately 800 000.
In 2004 Cyprus became a member state of the EU.
Its rich history, dating back to the Neolithic Age
7000 - 8000 BC makes it unique; many New Stone Age settlements can be found along the north and south coasts of the island.
During the Copper and Bronze Ages when the island's rich natural copper resources were exported to other countries it was one of the wealthiest nations in the known world.
The island fell successively under Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman domination. For 800 years, beginning in 364 AD, Cyprus was ruled by Byzantium. After brief possession by King Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) of England during the Crusades, the island came under Frankish control in the late 12th century. It was ceded to the Venetian Republic in 1489 and conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1571.
Despite these dominations Cyprus managed to maintain its own civilization assimilating the various influences which it received. It remained a centre of Greek culture with its own character.
The history is enriched by stories going back to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who was said to have been born out of the sea foam on the island's west coast which is part of Paphos. Interestingly Shakespeare's Othello was set in Famagusta
St Paul visited Cyprus on his way to see the Emperor Constantine, whilst Richard the Lion-heart chose to marry his fiancé in Limassol during the crusades.
