Wanderlust World Wanderlust World Cyprus was first discovered and settled around 11,000 years ago (c. 9000 BCE) by Neolithic farmers from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). These early migrants crossed the relatively short sea distance, bringing agriculture, domesticated animals, and the foundations of one of the Mediterranean's earliest civilizations.
Sites like Khirokitia (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) reveal well-organized villages with circular stone dwellings, sophisticated toolmaking, and evidence of long-distance trade—remarkable for such an early period.
Cyprus's location at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and Africa made it a magnet for successive waves of settlers, traders, and conquerors—Mycenaeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans—each layer adding to its rich cultural tapestry.
The term "discovery" is misleading; the island was never "unknown" to the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. Rather, Anatolian farmers were the first to establish permanent, agricultural communities, initiating Cyprus's recorded human history.