The capital of Cyprus, Nicosia (officially Lefkosía; Turkish Lefkoqa; pop. 120,000), the only large town in the interior of the island, grew up in the seventh century A.D. on the theater of ancient Ledra. It was selected as the administrative center of Cyprus when the coastal towns became increasingly unsafe as a result of continual raiding and
plunder.
The Venetians took control of Nicosia in 1489 and built up the city walls, which are a central part of the character of the city. Despite their massive construction, the walls proved of little use when the Turks made their attack. The city fell after only six weeks, in a bloodbath in which 20,000 people died.
Under the Turks the city declined and in 1764 riots led to the death of the Turkish governor. The bloody history continued and in 1821, 200 Christians were killed by a particularly ferocious governor, Kuchuk Mehmed.
The town was the seat of the British governor from 1878 and many of the administrative buildings date from that colonial period.
The city had long had Greek and Turkish sectors and in the wake of independence was one of the key places where tension between the two communities led to violence.
In 1964 fighting broke out between Greeks and Turks and the city was informally divided by the United Nations. In 1974, when the Turks invaded the island, the city was divided along the so-called green line. This means that Greeks and Turks cannot pass from one side of the city to the other.
The city is the only one in Europe to remain divided by war.
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