British Cyprus

British Cyprus was the period in which the island of Cyprus was governed by the British Empire, from 1878 to independence in 1960. Under the Cyprus Convention of June 1878, Britain took over the administration of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire while the island remained nominally Ottoman territory. The island was valued as a base for protecting the route to India and the Suez Canal. When the Ottomans entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers, Britain annexed Cyprus in November 1914. In 1925 the island became a Crown colony, with Nicosia as its capital. British rule brought roads, railways, schools and public health measures, but also tension between the Greek Cypriot majority, which demanded union with Greece, and the Turkish Cypriot minority. The interwar period saw riots and the burning of Government House in 1931, followed by stricter colonial government. After the Second World War, demands for self-determination grew into an armed struggle, and Cyprus became an independent republic in 1960.