British Cyprus (1878–1960)

Crown Colony of Cyprus (after 1922)
British Protectorate (1878-1914) British military occupation (1914–1922) British Crown Colony (1922–60)
1878–1960
Top: Flag (1881–1922) Bottom: Flag (1922–1960) Coat of arms
Cyprus in the 1930s. Cyprus in Dark Green and the United Kingdom in dark grey.
Capital		Nicosia
Languages		English
Government		Crown colony
Monarch
•	1878–1901	Victoria first Protector
•	1910–36	George V first Sovereign
•	1952–60	Elizabeth II last
High Commissioner/Governor
•	1878–79	Garnet Wolseley, first High-Commissioner
•	1918–26	Malcolm Stevenson first Governor
•	1957–60	Hugh Mackintosh Foot last Governor
History
•	Protectorate established	4 June 1878
•	Independence	16 August 1960
Preceded by Succeeded by Ottoman Cyprus Cyprus Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Today part of		Cyprus  United Kingdom  Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Warning: Value not specified for ""

British Cyprus was the island of Cyprus under the dominion of the British Empire, administered sequentially from 1878 to 1912 as a British protectorate, a unilaterally annexed military occupation from 1914 to 1922 and from 1922 to 1960 as a Crown colony.

Cyprus was a territory of the Ottoman Empire, lastly as part of the Vilayet of the Archipelago, since it was conquered from the Republic of Venice in 1570-71.

A British protectorate under Ottoman suzerainty was established over Cyprus by the Cyprus Convention of 4 June 1878, following the Russo-Turkish War, in which the British occupied the island as a consequence of the Ottoman Empire's actions throughout the duration of the war. Cyprus was then proclaimed a British protectorate and was integrated into the British Empire. This remained in place until November 1914, when after the Ottomans joined the Central Powers, in turn entering World War I, Britain declared the complete annexation of Cyprus into the British Empire, albeit under a military administration status. The colony of British Cyprus was proclaimed a decade later, in 1925, after Britain's annexation of Cyprus was verified twice, firstly in the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, then confirmed again in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

King Paul of Greece declared that Cyprus desired union with Greece in 1948. A referendum was presented by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus in 1950, according to which around 97% of the Greek Cypriot population wanted the union. The Greek petition and enosis became an international issue when it was accepted by the United Nations.