Cyprus

Cyprus is an island country.

The warm Mediterranean Sea is all around it. Cyprus has two lines of mountains. Between them is a wide, flat plain. The capital city is called Nicosia.

Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is the third-largest island in that sea, after Sicily and Sardinia, and it measures about 225 kilometers from its western cape to the tip of its long northeastern peninsula.

On a map, the island looks a little like a saucepan, with the handle pointing northeast. The Kyrenia Mountains run along the north coast and the Troodos Mountains rise in the south and west. Between them lies a flat plain, and in the middle of it stands Nicosia, the capital. About 1.4 million people live in Cyprus (World Bank estimate, 2025). Most speak Greek or Turkish, and many also speak English.

Cyprus lies in the eastern Mediterranean, about 65 km south of Türkiye (Turkey), 100 km west of Syria and 770 km southeast of mainland Greece. Britannica gives its greatest length as 225 km, from Cape Arnauti in the west to Cape Apostolos Andreas at the end of the northeastern peninsula, and its greatest north-south width as 100 km; the coastline runs for roughly 640 km.

Two mountain systems frame the island: the limestone Kyrenia range along the north coast and the igneous Troodos massif in the south and southwest, with the flat Mesaoria Plain between them. Population figures depend on scope. Cyprus's Statistical Service (CYSTAT) estimated 983,000 people at the end of 2024 in the area controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus, while the World Bank's estimate for Cyprus was 1,370,754 (2025). Greek and Turkish are the main languages, and English is widely spoken.

Nicosia is the capital city.

It has old stone walls around its oldest part. Paphos is a town by the sea. Its old floors are covered with tiny colored stones. These pictures are called mosaics.

Nicosia lies near the middle of the island, beside the Pedieos River on the Mesaoria Plain. It has been the seat of government of Cyprus since the 900s. Its old town is ringed by stone walls that the Venetians rebuilt about 5 kilometers around, and its Cyprus Museum holds many treasures found by archaeologists.

Other towns include Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos. At Paphos, people have found the remains of villas, palaces, theaters and tombs, and floors decorated with mosaics, pictures made of tiny pieces of stone. In the Troodos Mountains, ten churches and monasteries are covered inside with painted walls.

Nicosia, capital of the Republic of Cyprus, lies on the Pedieos River in the center of the Mesaoria Plain. Known in antiquity as Ledra, it has been the island's seat of government since the 10th century. Its fortifications, first raised by the Lusignan kings and later rebuilt by the Venetians around a smaller area about 5 km round, enclose the old town; the Cyprus Museum houses major archaeological collections.

UNESCO lists three sites. Paphos (1980), inhabited since the Neolithic period, has remains of villas, palaces, theaters, fortresses and tombs, and UNESCO counts the mosaics of Nea Paphos among the most beautiful in the world. The Painted Churches in the Troodos Region (1985) are ten churches and monasteries, from small rural buildings to the monastery of St John Lampadistis, whose murals give an overview of Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting in Cyprus. Choirokoitia (1998) is a Neolithic settlement occupied from the 7th to the 4th millennium BCE. Britannica adds that the ancient theater of Kourion has been restored and plays are staged there.

Cyprus has two lines of mountains.

The tallest mountain is Mount Olympus. In winter, snow falls on the high mountains. Summers are hot and dry. Most rain falls in winter.

The Kyrenia Mountains stretch for about 160 kilometers along the north coast. They are made mostly of limestone, and one peak has five rocky points, like fingers. The Troodos Mountains in the south are made of a different rock. Geologists think it formed from melted rock beneath a deep ocean that once separated Europe and Asia from Africa and Arabia. Their highest point, Mount Olympus, is 1,951 meters high.

Between the two ranges lies the Mesaoria Plain, whose name means "Between the Mountains." Summers, from June to September, are hot and dry, and winters are rainy. The main rivers start in the Troodos and are fed only by winter rain, so in summer they dry up.

The Kyrenia range, also called the Pentadaktylos in the west for its five-fingered peak, runs 160 km parallel to the north coast. It is built largely of deformed Mesozoic limestone and is the southernmost range of the Alpine-Himalayan chain in the eastern Mediterranean. The Troodos massif is igneous: geologists conclude it formed from molten rock beneath the deep Tethys Ocean that once separated Eurasia and Afro-Arabia. It stretches about 80 km east to Stavrovouni (689 m), and its summit, Mount Olympus (also called Mount Troodos), reaches 1,951 m, the island's highest point.

The climate is intensely Mediterranean: hot, dry summers (June to September) and rainy winters (November to March), with short, changeable autumns and springs. Average precipitation is about 500 mm a year, from 350 mm at Nicosia to 1,050 mm on Mount Olympus. Nicosia's summer days average a maximum of 37 °C, and from December to March the Troodos has weeks of frosty nights and considerable snow. The major rivers, the largest being the Pedieos, rise in the Troodos and run dry in summer. Pine, dwarf oak, cypress and cedar forest cover the Troodos, while olive, carob and citrus trees grow on the narrow northern coastal plain.

Sea turtles come to the beaches of Cyprus.

They lay their eggs there. A kind of wild sheep lives in a forest in the mountains. Millions of birds fly over Cyprus in spring and autumn.

Green turtles and loggerhead turtles breed on beaches along the coast of Cyprus, and the law protects them. High in the Troodos Mountains, a small forest is home to the agrino, a wild sheep related to the mouflon. It is the only large wild animal left on the island, and it is strictly protected.

Cyprus also lies on major routes that birds use when they migrate. In spring and autumn, millions of birds pass over the island, and many kinds stay there for the winter. Long ago, the island had elephants and hippopotamuses: their fossils have been found near Kyrenia.

Britannica describes the agrino, a subspecies of wild sheep related to the mouflon of the western Mediterranean, as the only large wild animal now surviving on Cyprus; it is under strict protection in a small forested area of the Troodos range. Green and loggerhead turtles, both protected by law, breed on beaches along the coast.

The island lies on major bird migration routes: in spring and autumn millions of birds pass over it, and many species spend the winter, while francolin and chukar partridges are among the resident species. The fossil record shows how different the island once was: remains of elephants and hippopotamuses have been found in the Kyrenia area, and in ancient times deer and wild boar were numerous. Snakes were so common in antiquity that the island was called Ophiussa, "the Abode of Snakes"; Britannica notes they are now relatively rare.

Many people in Cyprus speak Greek. Others speak Turkish.

Many people speak English too. A cheese called halloumi comes from Cyprus. Meals often have fresh fruit and vegetables.

About 1.4 million people live in Cyprus (2025 estimate), and more than two-thirds of them live in towns and cities. Most people speak Greek, and a smaller group speaks Turkish. A few thousand people speak Arabic or Armenian, and English is widely spoken and understood.

Cypriot cooking mixes traditions from Greece, Anatolia and the lands to the east, but some dishes are found only in Cyprus, such as halloumi cheese and pourgouri, a dish of boiled cracked wheat. Many meals begin with meze, lots of small plates to share. Cyprus is also known for handmade lace, especially from the town of Lefkara, and for silverwork.

Britannica describes two main communities: Greek Cypriots, nearly four-fifths of the population, whose ancestors include early inhabitants and settlers from the Peloponnese from about 1200 BCE; and Turkish Cypriots, roughly one-fifth, descended from Ottoman soldiers who arrived in 1571 and from settlers from Anatolia. Small Arabic-speaking Maronite and Armenian-speaking groups, each of a few thousand people, are mostly bilingual, and English is widely spoken. Greek Cypriots are primarily Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Turkish Cypriots are Sunni Muslims; there are also smaller Maronite, Armenian, Roman Catholic and Anglican communities. More than two-thirds of the population is urban.

In the government-controlled area, CYSTAT reports that 15.2 percent of people were under 15 and 18.3 percent were 65 or older in 2024, compared with 22.3 and 11.3 percent in 2000. The island's food draws on the Levant, Anatolia and Greece, with purely Cypriot dishes such as halloumi cheese and pourgouri; meze often takes the place of a main course. Lefkara lacework and silversmithing are among the best-known crafts of both communities.