Syria/Cypern/Palestaina/Mesopotamia/Babilonia/Zwen Arabia/mit Bergen/Wesseren und Stetten

Title

Syria/Cypern/Palestaina/Mesopotamia/Babilonia/Zwen Arabia/mit Bergen/Wesseren und Stetten

Map shows Cyprus with partly Western Asia.

ca. 1550

Artist

Münster (1489-1552)

Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) was a leading Renaissance cosmographer. His most famous work, the Cosmographia (1544), was a comprehensive description of the world with 24 maps, based on research dating back to 1528. Continuously revised, the 1550 edition already included many new maps. It was the first scientific yet accessible world description published in German, illustrated with numerous woodcuts by artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger. Between 1544 and 1650, the Cosmographia appeared in 46 editions (27 in German) and was translated into several languages. Münster’s work combined the knowledge of scholars, artists, and travelers and remained influential long after his death.

Historical Description

Since the Bronze Age, Cyprus has supplied the eastern Mediterranean with copper. In the late Bronze Age, trading cities such as Enkomi arose on Cyprus, which were in close contact with the Levant. To the Hittites and Ugarites, Cyprus (or part of the island) was known as Alašija. In 332 BC the kings of Cyprus passed to Alexander the Great and Cyprus was incorporated into his empire. In 1191, the English King Richard the Lionheart, who helped lead the Third Crusade, conquered the island. Ottoman rule lasted from 1571 to 1878. In 1878, the Ottoman Empire leased the island to Britain in return for support against an advance by the Russians in the Russo-Ottoman War (1877-1878). Efforts by Greek Cypriots to unify Cyprus with Greece led to an uprising in 1931. In 1960 Cyprus became independent as a result of the Zurich and London Agreements between Britain, Greece, and Turkey.