Modern history of Cyprus

The history of Cyprus, an island in the Eastern Mediterranean, from 1878 to the present.

Cyprus was part of the British Empire, as a Military occupation from 1914–1925, and a Crown colony from 1925–1960. Cyprus became an independent nation in 1960.

In 1878, as a result of the Cyprus Convention, the United Kingdom received as a protectorate the island of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire in exchange for United Kingdom's military support to the Ottoman Empire should Russia attempt to take possession of territories of the Ottomans in Asia.

The first Briton who was placed in charge of the administration was given the title of "High Commissioner" and was Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley (1833–1913). The British faced a major political problem on the island. The indigenous Cypriots believed it their natural right to unite the island with Greece following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The British authorities carried out the first census in 1881, the total population of Cyprus was 186,173, of whom 137,631 (73,9%) were Greeks, 45,438 (24,4%) were Turks and 3,084 (1,7%) were minorities of Maronites, Latins and Armenians. Bishop of Kitium Kyprianos addressed Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley upon his arrival in Larnaca in a speech on the 22nd of July 1878 saying "We (Greeks) accept the change of the government, because we believe that Great Britain will eventually help Cyprus, just like with the Ionian islands, unite Cyprus with mother Greece".

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