Cyprus and Crete, as provinces of the Byzantine Empire, share a common history during the Byzantine, the Arabic and the Middle Byzantine period. Around 1200, within twenty years and a crusade, they pass into the hands of the westerns. And while Crete came under Venetian rule for four hundred and fifty years, Cyprus was ruled by the Franks for three hundred years, then came under Venetian rule for about one hundred years, while in 1669, when Crete was conquered by the Ottomans, Cyprus was already under Turkish rule for about a century. After two centuries of Ottoman domination, in the last decades of the 19th century and within twenty years, the Turks leave from both Cyprus and Crete, and thus begin the modern era of the islands.

chronological chart...