Cyprus

A Greek colony 4,000 years ago, it has since been conquered by Egypt in the 6th century bc, later by Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, and in 1571 by Turks until 1878 when it came under the British. Subsequently it became a British crown colony in 1925. In 1960 it became an independent state but there was continuing strife between its Greek and Turkish populations until in 1974 a full-scale war broke out. Turkey invaded the island and brought about its present division into two parts.