Our group today visited the University of Nicosia, and attending two lectures. Our first lecture was about the history of Cyprus by Dr. Emilios Solomou. We learned about all the conquers that have taken over Cyprus including the British. Before the British ruled Cyprus, the Ottomans had control over it. The British took over in 1878 and ruled until Cyprus’ independence in 1960. The Cypriots were unhappy about the British taking over because they wanted to become a part of Greece. There have been some conflicts over the years due to this tension. In 1931, a British governor’s house was burnt down by Cypriots who were rioting. There was also armed fighting in 1955 between the British and Cypriots. A few years after that in 1960 Cyprus got its independence, but they did not have much choice in the matter. Both Turkey and Greece made the decision for Cyprus. Cyprus’ first president, Makarios III, was an important leader in Cyprus’ push for independence from Britain.
It was very interesting to learn all about the history of Cyprus even if it was in just one lecture. The amount of conquers Cyprus had is sad to hear about. While all the architecture from the other cultures does help Cyprus form their own culture, I would have been cool to see what Cypriots could have created themselves if they weren’t constantly under the rule of other nations. I thought that the lecture was also interesting because at the end Dr. Solomou showed pictures taken of historical spots in Cyprus and expanded on the history behind them.
Our second lecture was a crash course on the Greek language. The Greek language is the oldest Indo-European language that was 3400 years of written history. There have been artifacts found with Greek writing that are from ancient times such as the Disc of Phaestos in Crete. I found it very interesting to learn about the language and how it is spoken in Cyprus specifically. In Cyprus, they actually speak a dialect of Greek, so it is hard for people in Greek to understand them. The favorite work I learned today was “Glad to meet you” which is Hareeka. I also enjoyed learning all the numbers.
