Cyprus,
officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern
Mediterranean Sea, off the coasts of Syria and Turkey.Cyprus is the
third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, and
a member state of the European Union. It is located south of Turkey,
west of Syria and Lebanon,
northwest of Israel,
north of Egypt and east
of Greece. 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,
and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus
Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. Even though
Turkish Cypriots made up only 18% of the population, the partition of
Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of
Turkish Cypriot leaders and Turkey in the 1950s. Following nationalist
violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960.
In
1963, the 11-year intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots and
Turkish Cypriots started, which displaced more than 25,000 Turkish
Cypriots and brought the end of Turkish Cypriot representation in the
republic. 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, the incorporation of Cyprus into Greece. This action
precipitated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus,which led to the capture of
the present-day territory of Northern Cyprus 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 in 1983. These
events and
the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. [R1]
Since it independence in
1960, the Cyprus Postal Services have issued stamps in several series
per year. So far there are only one stamp in "Cyprus through
the
Ages" that related to Paleontology as it shows skeleton of pygmy
Hippopotamus from 12.000 years ago. [R2]
Official stamps of Cyprus related to
Paleontology: fossil of prehistoric animal
Notes: [1] skeleton of pygmy
Hippopotamus from 12.000 years ago shown on the first stamp at the top
row. Fossil of the Hippopotamus also shown on stamp of Northern Cyprus in 1991
References: [R1] More information
about Croatia is on WikipediaWikiTravelFlag
Country [R2] More
information about postal
history Cyprus on Wikipedia
Links
to Cyprus's post authority and stamps catalog websites are here