Cyprus shares border with Northern Cyprus
Cyprus ( (listen)), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is geographically in Western Asia, but its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southeastern European. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located north of Egypt, east of Greece, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a claim unrecognised by the international community.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two distinct waves in the 2nd millennium BC. These waves of Greek settlement left a lasting impact on the island's culture, language, and architecture. Archaeological remains include the well-preserved ruins from the Hellenistic period such as Salamis and Kourion, and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world. As a strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus was occupied by several ancient powers. The island was successively ruled by the Assyrian, Egyptian, and Persian empires before Alexander the Great seized it in 333 BC. Subsequently, Cyprus was included in the Ptolemaic Kingdom before becoming a part of the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire. During this period, Arab caliphates briefly held joint control of the island along with the Romans. The thousand year long Roman presence on Cyprus was brought to an end during the Third Crusade, after which the French Lusignan dynasty took control of the island. Then followed rule by the Venetians, from which Cyprus was subsequently conquered by the Ottomans in 1571. 
Cyprus was placed under the United Kingdom's administration based on the Cyprus Convention in 1878 and was formally annexed by the UK in 1914. During British rule, the future of Cyprus became a matter of disagreement between the island's inhabitants; with the Greek Cypriot majority population pursuing union with Greece, while the Turkish Cypriot minority initially favored British rule and later the partition of Cyprus.Following an armed campaign in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. The crisis of 1963–64, which escalated intercommunal violence between Greeks and Turks, resulted in the displacement of more than 25,000 Turkish Cypriots into enclaves: 56–59  and led to the withdrawal of Turkish Cypriots from government and other state institutions. On 15 July 1974, a coup d'état was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis. This action precipitated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July, which led to the military occupation of the present-day territory of Northern Cyprus and the displacement of over 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots. A separate Turkish Cypriot state in the north was established by unilateral declaration in 1983; the move was widely condemned by the international community, with Turkey alone recognising the new state. These events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute.
Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean. With an advanced, high-income economy and a very high Human Development Index, the Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1961 and was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the Eurozone.Geography
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia (both in terms of area and population). It is also the world's 80th largest by area and world's 51st largest by population. It measures 240 kilometres (149 mi) long from end to end and 100 kilometres (62 mi) wide at its widest point, with Turkey 75 kilometres (47 mi) to the north. It lies between latitudes 34° and 36° N, and longitudes 32° and 35° E.
Other neighbouring territories include Syria and Lebanon to the east and southeast (105 and 108 kilometres (65 and 67 mi), respectively), Israel 200 kilometres (124 mi) to the southeast, The Gaza Strip 427 kilometres (265 mi) to the southeast, Egypt 380 kilometres (236 mi) to the south, and Greece to the northwest: 280 kilometres (174 mi) to the small Dodecanesian island of Kastellorizo (Megisti), 400 kilometres (249 mi) to Rhodes and 800 kilometres (497 mi) to the Greek mainland. Sources alternatively place Cyprus in Europe, or Western Asia and the Middle East.The physical relief of the island is dominated by two mountain ranges, the Troodos Mountains and the smaller Kyrenia Range, and the central plain they encompass, the Mesaoria. The Mesaoria plain is drained by the Pedieos River, the longest on the island. The Troodos Mountains cover most of the southern and western portions of the island and account for roughly half its area. The highest point on Cyprus is Mount Olympus at 1,952 m (6,404 ft), located in the centre of the Troodos range. The narrow Kyrenia Range, extending along the northern coastline, occupies substantially less area, and elevations are lower, reaching a maximum of 1,024 m (3,360 ft). The island lies within the Anatolian Plate.Cyprus contains the Cyprus Mediterranean forests ecoregion. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.06/10, ranking it 59th globally out of 172 countries.Geopolitically, the island is subdivided into four main segments. The Republic of Cyprus occupies the southern two-thirds of the island (59.74%). The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus occupies the northern third (34.85%), and the United Nations-controlled Green Line provides a buffer zone that separates the two and covers 2.67% of the island. Lastly, two bases under British sovereignty are located on the island: Akrotiri and Dhekelia, covering the remaining 2.74%.
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