Eyalet of Cyprus
| Eyalet-i Ḳıbrıṣ | |||||
| Eyalet of Ottoman Empire | |||||
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| Capital | Nicosia | ||||
| History | |||||
| • | Established | 1571 | |||
| • | Disestablished | 1748 | |||
| Today part of |
 Cyprus Northern Cyprus (de facto) |
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The Eyalet of Cyprus (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت قبرص, Eyālet-i Ḳıbrıṣ) was an eyalet (province) of the Ottoman Empire made up of the island of Cyprus, which was annexed into the Empire in 1571. The Ottomans changed the way they administered Cyprus multiple times. It was a sanjak (sub-province) of the Eyalet of the Archipelago from 1670 to 1703, and again from 1784 onwards; a fief of the Grand Vizier (1703–1745 and 1748–1784); and again an eyalet for the short period from 1745 to 1748.
During Venetian rule, the Ottomans at times raided Cyprus. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control, Turks attacked the Karpass Peninsula, pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539 the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol. Fearing the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta, Nicosia, and Kyrenia, but most other cities were easy prey.
In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again, but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Lala Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on July 2, 1570, and laid siege to Nicosia. The city fell on September 9, 1570; 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Only women and boys who were captured to be sold as slaves were spared.
Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted with the Siege of Famagusta and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571.
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