A Traveller's History of Cyprus

by Timothy Boatswain, Denis Judd (Editor), Peter Geissler (Illustrator)

A Traveller’s History of Cyprus offers a complete and authoritative history of the island’s past and also touches on the sensitive present-day issues for both sides of the island. Although Cyprus is a relatively small island, its position in the East Mediterranean has always given it strategic importance beyond its size. Well-placed for travel from all over the globe with plenty of sunshine throughout the year, Cyprus has become a favored tourist destination. All visitors, whether to the Greek or Turkish side of the island, discover the immensely rich history, which has resulted in so many civilizations making their mark upon its soil. With a historical gazetteer, chronology of major events, index, bibliography and historical and contemporary maps, this book is an invaluable companion to students or visitors to the island.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2001

Reviews

[Bruce Harpham]

Read this book in anticipation of a planned trip to Cyprus and nearby countries in 2022. The book covers a long period - thousands of years of history - in less than 200 pages. Recent history (i.e. roughly 1960s to 2000s) are covered in heavy detail with a focus on political conflicts on the island. I would have liked a slightly longer book with coverage of history beyond politics (e.g. cultural history, economic history etc) that would be of interest to the curious traveler.

[Katie]

More than 10,000 years of the history of Cyprus is covered in this book-- each era is brief but informative, dry in places with a lot of focus on war and entitled men squabbling over who rules Cyprus.
I found at times, the constant desire to only focus on war, politics, dynasty, rulership was boring. I'd have prefered it if Boatswain included Cypriot culture, lifestyle, material culture, belief, changing lifestyles, folklore, folk art, burials, sacred sites and so on. These topics were mentioned in very tiny sections (which I highlighted) but he'd resort back to informing us of battles which is very 'mansy'.

I did learn new things about Cypriot history which I appreciated as I love this country and it's people so much (I've been to Cyprus 7 times now and I have Cypriot friends I stay with and I like to be immersed into their culture rather than mixing with the average tourist).

Book was a good read but the repetitive texts on invasion, wars, raids and royal pedigrees began to feel tedius, he could have broken it up a bit with other historical topics of Cyprus.

[John Benson]

More than 10, 000 years of history are covered in this book of less than 200 pages. I read it along with A TRAVELLER'S HISTORY OF GREECE, which Boatswain also co-wrote. I am glad that I did as the two countries histories become entwined more and more in the modern era. The chapters are much shorter in the first 100 pages that cover 9500 years of history but aspects of each era are summarized better. In the much longer chapters of the modern era, we get much longer chapters but more of a listing of events that took place with much less analysis. The book gives a good overview of this unique island nation.

[Mark Mills]

The writing's not exactly elegant but it does the job

[Daniel Pérez Gleason]

Informative but extremely boring

[Alberto Neto]

Presents the long history of Cyprus in a very concise way. While not going deep in any period, it does tell the tale on the importance of the island in the Middle Ages to the divide of modern times. Overall it is an interesting book that provides a thin cover if knowledge. The style is direct and easy to read although in some points I was confused with the people's name.