In the 4th century advertisement the town ended up being a bishopric seat and it got its existing (Greek and Turkish) name, Lefkosia. Nicosia grew as a farming centre, and unlike the richer seaside cities it wasn't ruined by Arab raids. Around 965 the Byzantine governor moved the administration to Nicosia, and because then it has actually been the capital of the island albeit under numerous different administrations.
The Frankish Kingdom of Cyprus was established in 1192 as a base for crusades to the Holy Land. During This Site , the first city walls were built, as well as some notable churches (now in North Nicosia). For many years Genoan and Venetian merchants developed themselves and completed for influence over the island, and in 1489 the last queen offered the administration to the Republic of Venice.
A brand-new fortification system, which still stands, was integrated in 1567-70, however in the same year it was completed, the Ottomans caught Nicosia after a siege of 40 days. After that Nicosia mainly laid in ruins, and the population fell by 95%. After that the residents made up Ottoman Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians; the previous settled in the north of the city and the latter in the south.
In order to protect the empire from Russian attacks (as in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877), Cyprus was traded to the British in 1878 in exchange for security versus Russia. Already, Greece had actually gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, and numerous Greek-Cypriots hoped for the island to become unified (enosis) with Greece.
The majority of it went reasonably peacefully, but after WWII, the viewpoint turned versus the colonial rule. The pro-independence EOKA organization was established, and from 1955 on bomb attacks and rioting became common in Nicosia and elsewhere in Cyprus. As an outcome the independent Republic of Cyprus was developed in 1960.
In the following years the two groups were combating each other. In July 1974, the military junta judgment Greece managed a coup d'tat, installing a pro-enosis leader. Turkey replied by getting into the island a few days later on, recording the northeastern third of Cyprus, consisting of the northern half of Nicosia and developing the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.