Today, we were able to go see the University of Nicosia (or UNIC) and get to learn about the history of Cyprus with Dr. Emilios A. Solomou. Dr. Solomou talked about how the British takeover heavily affected Cypriot culture. The United Kingdom took Cyprus from Ottoman rule in 1878 AD, and at first made Cyprus a better place to live for a while. By 1931, Cypriots started to resent the British troops. The people of Cyprus started to consider what would be better for the country, and that resulted in a unification with Greece. This being that Greece has many things in common with Cyprus, such as the language and culture. In 1955, Cypriot people were very unhappy with the crown and started to protest even more, resulting in violence. The United Kingdom did not want a unification with Greece but offered independence to Cyprus, which then ended up happening with The United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey signing the papers to make Cyprus an independent state in 1960. There is very much British influence in Cyprus still to this day. For example, like all colonies of the British, Cypriots drive on the left side of the road, unlike most of the world. The British also own two naval bases on Cyprus, Akrotiti and Dhekella. I was able to learn about how the British actually wanted Cyprus to have independence rather than a unification with Greece. I never thought that The United Kingdom would ever want to give a territory up so easily, and fight a lot more like America’s Revolutionary War.

Even while we got to learn about the British rule in Cyprus, we also got to learn a lot more about Cyprus history. Dr. Solomou continued to talk about Cyprus from as early as 7400 BC to the present day. I thought that the lecture was good. We were able to learn Cyprus’ timeline from start to finish and in thorough and detailed way. Another thing that I thought was good was the use of images to enhance and see what we are learning about. For example, we got to see the Cyprus flag. Even though we have seen this many times out and about, we were able to analyze how the flag was created and why the color choices were made. The orange on the flag was because of not being allowed to have blue and red on the flag due to Greece and Turkey being potentially able to claim it. Also orange could also be a reference to how dry the country is due to no rain. I also enjoyed being able to hear about the conflict of the Turkish Republic of Cyprus and Republic of Cyprus and how the negotiations and borders are in the present day. I learned a lot from this lecture!

We then had a second lecture which was about the Greek language. We learned how Cypriots do not speak regular Greek but a form of the language called Cypriot Greek. This type closer resembles Ancient Greek language. I found the history behind this amazing language was quite interesting, being used at least 3400 years ago as shown on written records. There were also some amazing artifacts that showed Greek on them such as the Disc of Phaestos, which was made around 2000 BC with Ancient Greek written on it. Another thing I found to be interesting was that there were different roles in different Greek cultures. For example, the father rules the house in Athens and the mother rules the house in Sparta. It’s pretty cool to see the differences of Greek powers in ancient times. We were also able to learn some Greek as well! My favorite phrase that we learned was how to say thank you, which is pronounced “efharisto” in Greek. You’re welcome is pronounced “parakalo” in Greek. We were able to learn some of the Greek numbers. My favorite number to learn was “tria” which is three. I can’t wait to be able to see more of Nicosia!!