colony · Greece and the Aegean

British Cyprus

1878 CE – 1960 CE · capital Nicosia

Cyprus under British rule from 1878 to 1960, a strategic base whose Greek Cypriot campaign for union with Greece led to independence.

Origins

By the Cyprus Convention of 1878, the Ottoman Empire allowed Britain to occupy and administer Cyprus, while keeping formal sovereignty, in return for British support against Russia. Sir Garnet Wolseley became the first high commissioner. Britain annexed the island when the Ottomans entered the First World War in 1914 and made it a crown colony in 1925.

Rule and society

A British governor ruled with a partly elected legislative council, abolished after the 1931 riots, when Government House was burned. The population, about four-fifths Greek Orthodox and one-fifth Turkish Muslim, was divided by the Greek demand for enosis, union with Greece. Agriculture, mining and later British military bases shaped the economy.

Decline and legacy

From 1955 the EOKA guerrilla movement under George Grivas, backed by Archbishop Makarios III, fought British rule. The Zurich and London agreements of 1959 created the Republic of Cyprus, which became independent in August 1960, with Britain keeping two sovereign base areas.

Connections (3)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). British Cyprus. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-cyprus
MLA
“British Cyprus.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-cyprus. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “British Cyprus.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-cyprus.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘British Cyprus’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-cyprus (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻