16th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1539 | Ottoman Turks attack Limassol. | |
| 1570 | 1 July | Ottoman Turks invade Cyprus with 80,000 men. |
| 25 July | Ottoman army besieges Nicosia. | |
| 9 September | Nicosia falls to the Turkish invaders. 20,000 Nicosians, Greek and Latin, are killed in the aftermath. About 1,000 survivors are bound and shipped out to be sold in the Constantinople slave markets. | |
| 1571 | Cyprus ended its time as a Venetian colony. | |
| Having been put under siege the previous year, Famagusta was captured and Cyprus was subjected to Ottoman rule. The first Ottoman settlers arrived. | ||
| The Ottomans took Famagusta; Cyprus became a part of the Ottoman Empire. Greeks on the island of Cyprus sided with Venetians to fight off the attacking Ottomans. | ||
| 1572 | A period began during which twenty eight bloody uprisings occurred. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Cypriot History
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“Last night I watched my brothers play,
The gentle and the reckless one,
In a field two yards away.
For half a century they were gone
Beyond the other side of care
To be among the peaceful dead.”
—Edwin Muir (1887–1959)