Cyprus Map
Area: total: 9,250 sq km (of which 3,355 sq km are in north Cyprus) about the size of Connecticut. The third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and Sardinia)
Land: 9,240 sq km Water: 10 sq km
Capital–Nicosia (pop. 234,200, 2008 fig.).
Land boundaries: note – boundary with Dhekelia is being resurveyed, border countries: Akrotiri 47.4 km, Dhekelia NA
Coastline: 648 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mount Olympus 1,951 m
Land use: arable land: 7.79% permanent crops: 4.44% other: 87.77% (2001)
Irrigated land: 382 sq km (2001 est.)
Cyprus is lying at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia and situated in the eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea about 95 km (60 miles) west of the Syrian coast, 75 km (47 miles) south of the Turkish coast and 325 km (203 miles) north of the Egyptian coast.; close to the busy shipping and air routes linking Europe with the Arab world and the Far East. The Island is 225km long (from the most eastern point to the most westerly point) and 94km wide at the widest point, its strategic position has played a major role in the development of the island as a base for many of the world’s leading MNC’s.
The island is subdivided into four main segments geopolitically and the Republic of Cyprus, the internationally recognized government, occupies the southern two-thirds of the island. The Turkish republic of Cyprus occupies the northern third of the island and is recognized only by Turkey. The UN controlled Green line is a buffer zone that separates the two.
The landscape
Cyprus is divided into two mountain masses and a central plain between them known as the Mesaoria Plain. The Troodos Mountains envelop most of the south and west of the island, accounting for roughly half its area which includes Mount Olympus, which is the island’s highest peak at 1,951 m (6,401 ft). The narrow Kyrenia Rangeis in the north of the Mesaoria Plain, extends along the northern coastline, occupies significantly less area. Its easternmost extension becomes a series of foothills on the Karpas Peninsula. That peninsula points toward Asia Minor, to which Cyprus belongs geologically. The highest peaks of the Kyrenia Range are hardly more than half the height of the great dome of the Troodos massif, Mount Olympus but their apparently remote, sharp slopes make them considerably more magnificent.
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