The earliest
known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC.
Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic
village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in the 2nd
millennium BC. As a strategic location in the Middle East, it was subsequently
occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians,
Egyptians and Persians, from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander
the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman
Empire, Arab caliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty and the
Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and
1878 (de jure until 1914).
Cyprus was
placed under British administration based on the Cyprus Convention in 1878 and
was formally annexed by Britain in 1914. Cyprus was granted independence in
1960. In 1963, the 11-year intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots and
Turkish Cypriots started. On 15 July 1974, a coup d'état was staged by Greek
Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta. This action
precipitated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July, which led to the
capture of the present-day territory of Northern Cyprus in the following month,
after a ceasefire collapsed, 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 British
administration of Cyprus began on 11 July 1878 and initially British stamps
were used which may be identified by the numbered cancels used. The first
postage stamps marked Cyprus were British stamps overprinted CYPRUS from 1880. The
first postage stamps produced specifically for use in Cyprus, rather than being
overprinted British stamps, were issued on 1 July 1881.
During the
Briefmarken-Messe in Essen in May 2017 I left stamped envelopes at almost every
foreign postal administration hoping they would send them back when they
arrived home. The stamp is issued for the International Year of Sustainable
Tourism for Development on 4 May 2017. A refugee stamp has to be put on every
piece of mail that is sent from Cyprus to another country. The proceeds go to
the Refugee Fund to help the (Greek) Cypriots that were displaced as a result
from the Turkish invasion. The stamps were postmarked with a normal datestamp
from the capital Nicosia. The priority label was added by Cyprus Post.
This and other
stamps can be found on the philatelic website of Cyprus Post: cypruspost.post/shop.
Date sent: 11
May 2017
Date postmark: 15
May 2017
Date received:
23 May 2017
Number of days: 12
Envelope in
collection: 97
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