Protectorate Cyprus

Book excerpt: A strategic outpost in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus was vital to British imperial ambitions in the East as the Ottoman Empire grew increasingly fragile in the nineteenth century. Here, Gail Dallas Hook describes the British occupation of Cyprus from 1878 to 1914, during which British government, science, and capital investment were installed alongside a new British colonial community, building 'British Cyprus' long before the island became a formal part of the British Empire. Protectorate Cyprus further demonstrates how the British attempted to bring 'good government' to Cyprus yet failed to resolve the issues of Muslim and Greek Orthodox divisions. It is a unique representation of Britain's 'informal empire' before World War I that has been little studied. Protectorate Cyprus is a crucial addition to the history of the British Empire.