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PREHISTORIC CYPRUS
ancient kingdoms of Cyprus
Cyprus, the third-largest island in the Mediterranean, is thought to have been first settled around 8,800 B.C., according to the British Museum. Covering 3,570 square miles, Cyprus is situated in the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, south of present-day Turkey and west of present-day Syria. It is the third largest island in the region after Sicily and Sardinia.
Cyprus was famous in antiquity for its copper resources. The word copper in fact is derived from the Greek name for the island, Kupros. The wealth of the island's elites was based on their control of copper ore mines in the Troodos Mountains, in the western part of the island. Copper was alloyed with tin to make bronze, used to make a variety of implements and weapons, making Cyprus source of metal in Copper Age and Bronze Age.
Colette and Seán Hemingway of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote: Cyprus’s “unique culture dates from as early as the end of the ninth millennium B.C., when the first permanent settlers may have arrived from southern Anatolia or the Syro-Palestinian coast, bringing with them an already developed culture. However, there is evidence for the presence of seasonal hunters of pygmy elephants and pygmy hippopotami before then, ca. 10,000 B.C. The earliest Neolithic settlers had an organized society based on agriculture and animal husbandry. Several of their settlements have been excavated throughout the island, including Khirokitia and Kalavasos near the southern coast. During the latter part of the Neolithic period (ca. 8500 B.C.–ca. 3900 B.C.), islanders began to work clay, making vessels which they baked and often decorated with abstract patterns in red on a light slip. [Source: Collete Hemingway, Independent Scholar, Seán Hemingway, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004, metmuseum.org \^/]
“The culture of the succeeding Chalcolithic period (ca. 3900 B.C.–ca. 2500 B.C.) may have been introduced to the island by a new wave of settlers who came from the same regions as the Neolithic settlers. Their art and religious practices were sophisticated. Clay and stone female figures, often with accentuated genitals, predominate, symbolizing the fertility of humans, animals, and the soil—the essential needs of an agrarian community. In the latter part of the Chalcolithic period, people began making small tools and decorative ornaments from the native copper (chalkos); thus the phase is termed Chalcolithic, referring to the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. \^/
“Little is known about the political system on Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age, although the island clearly maintained strong ties with the Near East, especially Syria. Urban centers with palatial structures of the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C., such as Enkomi and Kition, have been excavated extensively, and rich cemeteries of the same period have yielded luxury goods in a variety of materials. From the beginning of the fourteenth century B.C., there was a significant influx to Cyprus of fine quality Mycenaean vessels, which are found almost exclusively in the tombs of an aristocratic elite. With the destruction of the Mycenaean centers in Greece during the twelfth century B.C., political conditions in the Aegean became unstable and refugees left their homes for safer places, including Cyprus, beginning the Hellenization of the island that would take root over the next two centuries.” \^/
See Separate Article: LIFE, ART AND CULTURE IN ANCIENT CYPRUS europe.factsanddetails.com
Settlements on Ancient Cyprus
In 2016, the Cyprus' Antiquities Department, announced that archaeological digs have uncovered more than 20 round buildings in what is believed to be the east Mediterranean island's earliest known village that dates as far back as the 9th century B.C. The department said in a statement that excavations in the Ayios Tychonas-Klimonas area near Cyprus' southern coast, also found domestic dogs and cats had already been introduced to Cyprus when the village was active 11,200 to 10,600 years ago. It said villagers hunted small wild boar and birds, but didn't produce pottery. Excavations directed by Francois Briois from France's School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and Jean-Denis Vigne from France's National Center for Scientific Research-National Museum of Natural History found most buildings had built-in fire places. [Source: Associated Press, Jul 12, 2016]
Copper slag from Cyprus
Excavations at Dromolaxia-Vizatzia on Cyprus’ south coast have revealed a network of buildings and streets likely organized using an orthogonal street plan. While some of the structures were residential, much of the urban space adjacent to the ancient harbor was dedicated to industrial activities, which were the catalyst for the city’s growth and prosperity. [Source: Jason Urbanus, Archaeology magazine, January/February 2024]
Jason Urbanus wrote in Archaeology magazine: Recent Swedish excavations at Dromolaxia-Vizatzia have provided new insight into a city that specialized in the copper trade during the Late Bronze Age and grew into one of the largest and most prosperous trading hubs in the Eastern Mediterranean. This work has provided evidence of the surprisingly diverse nature of the community thriving there and established how those Cypriots who controlled the production and distribution of copper, such as the shipment found off Ulu Burun, could become exceptionally rich. “Copper was maybe the most sought-after product of this period,” says archaeologist Peter Fischer, professor emeritus of historical studies at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, “and the people of Dromolaxia-Vizatzia produced copper.” [Source: Jason Urbanus, Archaeology magazine, January/February 2024]
Dromolaxia-Vizatzia lies near the shore of Larnaca Salt Lake. It is better known as Hala Sultan Tekke, which is the name of a mosque and Muslim complex located a few hundred yards to the east that is considered one of the most sacred sites in Islam. During the Bronze Age, Larnaca Salt Lake — which is today blocked off from the Mediterranean — had open access to the sea and provided optimal harbor conditions. The ancient site was first discovered in the nineteenth century, but it is only in recent years that archaeologists have begun to understand what a crucial and vibrant trading center it once was.
For the past 14 years, Fischer has been the director of the New Swedish Cyprus Expedition, also called the Söderberg Expedition, which, in conjunction with the Cyprus Department of Antiquities, has carried out extensive geophysical surveys and excavations of the site. Although the settlement has only been partially excavated, fieldwork indicates that it was founded at least as early as 1630 B.C. and grew significantly between 1500 and 1300 B.C. It eventually spread over at least 60 acres, although based on surface finds that have been collected over an even broader area, Fischer believes it might have been much larger. “We’re sure the site is 60 acres in size, but we haven’t surveyed the entire surroundings,” he says. “It may be up to 120 acres; we don’t know.” That would make Hala Sultan Tekke one of the most extensive Bronze Age sites in the Eastern Mediterranean — and most likely the biggest on Cyprus. “Compared to sites in the Levant, in the Mycenaean cultural sphere, or in Minoan Crete, it’s very large,” Fischer says.
Wealth and Organization of Bronze Age Cyprus
Jason Urbanus wrote in Archaeology magazine: An assortment of objects found at Hala Sultan Tekke attests to the wealth of some of the city’s inhabitants and its trading connections with other Eastern Mediterranean civilizations. Clockwise from top: Cypriot jewelry made of Egyptian gold; a Cypriot bovine and a Cypriot bird-headed female figurine; an Egyptian gold lotus-shaped pendant and an Egyptian scarab; and an Anatolian redware spindle bottle.Hala Sultan Tekke had an ideal harbor, ready access to copper ore, and, excavations have shown, artisans capable of producing large quantities of refined copper.
Egyptian jewelry found on the Ulu Burun shipwreck: 1) gold disk-shaped pendant 2) gold falcon pendant 3) gold goddess pendant 4) faience beads 5) rock crystal beads 6) agate beads 7) faience beads 8) ostrich eggshell beads 9) silver bracelets 10) gold scrap 11) gold chalice 12) accreted mass of tiny faience beads 13) silver scrap
Until recently, however, not much was known about the people who controlled this industry. Rather than being ruled by a single monarch, Fischer believes that the city was likely run by a cadre of powerful families who managed the economy and reaped the benefits of the lucrative copper trade. Over the past few years, evidence of these commercial titans and their riches has been found on the outskirts of the city where geophysical survey detected hundreds of circular anomalies. Follow-up investigation revealed that many of these features are graves. The location of this necropolis, which appears to be outside the city walls, was unexpected. “The deceased were typically buried inside the settlement, usually in courtyards or beneath the floors of houses,” says Fischer. “But in Hala Sultan Tekke, we have a separated cemetery, which is something unique and extraordinary in Late Bronze Age Cyprus.” Even more extraordinary are the objects these tombs contained. [Source: Jason Urbanus, Archaeology magazine, January/February 2024]
Other objects found at Hala Sultan Tekke include imported and local jewelry and beads from Cyprus, Egypt, and India (left), as well as a black-and-white Cypriot ceramic tankard (right).The burials were the final resting places of Hala Sultan Tekke’s elite, who were interred in well-built and elaborately furnished chamber tombs that were used by families for generations. They contained thousands of grave goods, many of them intact, that attest to the wealth that the city’s rulers amassed during the height of the Bronze Age trade in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries B.C. These burials are among the richest ever discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean. And much like the cargo of the Ulu Burun wreck, they include a broad spectrum of foreign goods. “What’s most impressive to me is the multicultural nature of the objects,” Fischer says. “It’s fascinating.”
Inhabitants of Bronze Age Cyprus
Who were the inhabitants of Cyprus’s trading center. “My primary aim for the last years of this project is to look at not only what these people produced, but at the people themselves,” Fischer says. “Are they local? Are they immigrants? ” Jason Urbanus wrote in Archaeology magazine: It turns out they are a mixture of both. Over the past few years, the team has conducted DNA testing and strontium isotope analysis of some individuals buried in Hala Sultan Tekke’s graves to investigate their genetic backgrounds as well as where they grew up. The majority of those studied belong to a genetic group that includes Anatolians, Levantines, and Cypriots, as was expected. However, there were also individuals who hailed from the Mycenaean world and even a woman, likely the wife of a copper magnate, who was originally from Italy.[Source: Jason Urbanus, Archaeology magazine, January/February 2024]
There is other evidence that some foreigners migrated to Hala Sultan Tekke. Excavations within the city have uncovered examples of Sardinian black-burnished pottery along with Sardinian-style tools, which Fischer believes were brought to the island by immigrants. He does not imagine such objects, which are fairly low value, would have been imported over such a great distance, particularly since Hala Sultan Tekke’s inhabitants had access to much higher quality products.
“Why would the Cypriots import these pedestrian earthenware vessels when they had beautiful local Cypriot wares, as well as Mycenaean and Minoan pottery?” he asks. “I believe that there were Sardinians living in Cyprus.” Hala Sultan Tekke’s immigrant population may also explain why the cemetery was located outside the city walls, which is a more common practice elsewhere in the Mediterranean. “Hala Sultan Tekke is a harbor site, and harbor sites have connections with other cultures,” Fischer says. “Of course their population is a more mixed population. There were connections and people moved. We believe we travel a lot today, but these people did, too.”
Bronze Age Beer and Agriculture on Cyprus
According to Archaeology magazine: “In western Cyprus, a domed, mud-plaster structure found at the site of Kissonerga-Skalia appears to have been used as a Bronze Age kiln to dry malt for brewing beer. Archaeologist Lindy Crewe of the University of Manchester in England and her team excavated the nearly 4,000-year-old oven, uncovering ashy deposits containing carbonized fig seeds, mortars and other grinding implements, and juglets. They also found sherds of a large clay pot that they believe was a pithos, a vessel in which a fire was lit and used as an indirect heat source within the kiln. Malt, the team hypothesizes, might have been stored in the juglets while they were in the kiln, and then removed to perform the rest of the brewing process. [Source: Nikhil Swaminathan, Archaeology magazine, March-April 2013]
Excavations at Politiko-Troullia on the foothills of the Troodos mountains in the Nicosia district have brought to light a series of households around a large communal courtyard with evidence of intensive animal husbandry and crop processing, copper metallurgy and sophisticated ceramic technology during the Middle Bronze Age 2000-1500 B.C. The site was the predecessor of ancient Tamassos, the seat of a centrally important kingdom during the subsequent Iron Age. [Source: cyprus-mail.com, July, 2010]
According to the Antiquities Department, the archaeological deposits at Politiko-Troullia reach depths of up to four meters below the modern surface, making the site one of the deepest stratified sites in Cyprus. Archaeological survey of the local landscape shows that the hills around Politiko-Troullia have been terraced and managed intensively for centuries, perhaps beginning as early as the Bronze Age.
“The ancient villagers of Politiko-Troullia cultivated grapes and olives, and herded sheep, goats, cattle and pigs,” the department said. “They also hunted considerable numbers of deer and wild goat. The results from Politiko-Troullia open an archaeological window on the farming and mining communities that provided the foundation for urbanised civilisation on Cyprus”. The excavations were conducted under the direction of Dr. Steven Falconer and Dr. Patricia Fall of Arizona State University.
Earliest Evidence of the Opium Trade — from Cyprus
The oldest chemical evidence for the ancient drug trade comes from traces of opium found in Cyprus. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Scientists based at the University of York and the British Museum analyzed the residue found inside a small late Bronze Age jug from Cyprus and discovered the presence of opium alkaloids. The “base-ringed juglet” owned by the British Museum had long been assumed to be connected to the opium trade because the head of the jug, like other similar examples from the region, resembles the poppy flower. This was very much a “best-guess,” however, and it was not until Professor Jane Thomas-Oates of the University of York was able to analyze the contents of the jug that the suspicion was confirmed. The discovery offers evidence that there was a flourishing trade in opium in the Eastern Mediterranean as long as 3,600 years ago. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 6, 2018]
This doesn’t mean, however, that the opiate jug was used to transport and preserve narcotics. The presence of oil residue in the jug suggests that, rather than containing pure opium, the jug held poppy seed oil or aromatic oils used for perfume or body oil. Even so, there are numerous literary and artistic sources that confirm that opium was known to ancient physicians.
What’s surprising about the recent discovery in the UK is that it demonstrates and confirms the existence of an ancient form of branding. Not only did these distinctive looking juglets contain poppy-based products, but the containers were deliberately fashioned in order to communicate their purpose. Whether or not the oils contained therein served an analgesic purpose, they are one of the earliest forms of pharmaceutical marketing.
See 3,500-Year-Old Opium Found in Ancient Canaanite Grave Under CANAANITE FOOD, DRINK, DRUGS, CLOTHES, JEWELRY africame.factsanddetails.com
Culture and Art in Prehistoric Cyprus
Colette and Seán Hemingway of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote: ““The pottery of the prehistoric Cypriots, especially that produced in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, is exuberant and imaginative in shape and decoration. Terracotta figurines were also produced in fairly large numbers and placed in tombs throughout the Bronze Age. As in the Chalcolithic period, they most commonly depict female figures that symbolize regeneration. Other funerary objects, especially those buried with men, include bronze tools and weapons. Gold and silver jewelry, and cylinder seals appear on Cyprus as early as 2500 B.C. The island had a highly developed glyptic art, which shows influences from both the Near East and the Aegean region. \^/[Source: Collete Hemingway, Independent Scholar, Seán Hemingway, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004, metmuseum.org \^/]
Cypriot statue
“Undeniable influence of the Aegean on Cypriot culture during the Late Bronze Age can be seen in the development of writing, bronzeworking, seal stone carving, jewelry production, and some ceramic styles, especially in the twelfth century B.C., when intermittent Mycenaean settlers were arriving on the island. From about 1500 B.C., the Cypriots began using a still undeciphered script, which very much resembles the Linear A of Minoan Crete. Long examples exist on baked clay tablets and other documents found at urban centers such as Enkomi (on the eastern coast) and Kalavasos (on the southern coast). Engraved and pointed characters of the script appear on a number of vases in the Cesnola Collection at the Metropolitan. \^/
“During the Late Bronze Age, Cyprus was also an important center for the manufacture of works of art that show an amalgam of local and foreign influences. Stylistic features and iconographic elements borrowed from Egypt, the Near East, and the Aegean are often mixed together in Cypriot works. Undoubtedly foreign motifs, and the significance they held, were reinterpreted as they became part of distinctive local artistic traditions. Cypriot artisans traveled abroad as well, and in the twelfth century B.C. some Cypriot metalsmiths may have settled as far west as Sicily and Sardinia.” \^/
Egyptian 'Lotus Flower' Pendant and Other Foreign Treasures Found in Cyprus
A gem-studded ancient Egyptian lotus pendant with inlaid stones, dating to about 1350 B.C., was unearthed in a Cyprus burial, which contained 155 entombed people. Most of the objects found in the tombs, including the pendant were from the time of the great Ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, who wore similar jewelry. The pendant is one of hundreds of opulent grave goods from around the Mediterranean region that have been uncovered at the site, including gemstones, ceramics and jewelry. [Source: Laura Geggel, Live Science, December 8, 2021]
Laura Geggel wrote in Live Science: Archaeologists from the New Swedish Cyprus Expedition first unearthed the two Bronze Age tombs, both underground chambers, in the ancient city of Hala Sultan Tekke in 2018. One hundred and fifty five human remains and 500 funerary goods were found in the tombs, placed in layers on top of one another, suggesting that the burial chambers were used over several generations. "The finds indicate that these are family tombs for the ruling elite in the city," excavation leader, Fischer, said in a statement. "For example, we found the skeleton of a 5-year-old with a gold necklace, gold earrings and a gold tiara. This was probably a child of a powerful and wealthy family."
The grave goods include jewelry and other keepsakes made of gold, silver, bronze and ivory, as well as vessels from various cultures. "We also found a ceramic bull," Fischer said. "The body of this hollow bull has two openings: one on the back to fill it with a liquid, likely wine, and one at the nose to drink from. Apparently, they had feasts in the chamber to honour their dead." Other grave goods included a red carnelian gemstone from India, a blue lapis lazuli gemstone from Afghanistan and amber from around the Baltic Sea — valuables indicating that Bronze Age people in Cyprus took part in a vast trading network. Archaeologists also found evidence of trade with ancient Egypt, including gold jewelry, scarabs (beetle-shaped amulets sporting hieroglyphs) and the remains of fish imported from the Nile Valley, according to the statement.
Cyprus ring from the 5th-4th century BC
The archaeological team dated the gold jewelry by comparing it with similar finds from Egypt. "The comparisons show that most of the objects are from the time of Nefertiti and her husband Akhenaten, around 1350 B.C., Fischer said. "Like a gold pendant we found: a lotus flower with inlaid gemstones. Nefertiti wore similar jewellery."
The skeleton of a 30- to 40-year-old female from the uppermost layer of the tomb wore a decorated Egyptian ivory disc on her chest that had been part of the shroud and dated to about 1300 B.C. and an Egyptian scarab with hieroglyphs, dating to about 1350 B.C. A large vessel with war chariots from Greece was dated to the same time. The ceramic vessels found in the tombs, particularly those imported from Greece and Crete, are decorated with painted scenes of horse-drawn chariots, individuals carrying swords, animals and flowers.
The excavation team also uncovered a cylinder-shaped seal crafted from hematite, a mineral with a metallic hue. The seal bears a cuneiform inscription from Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that archaeologists deciphered. "The text consists of three lines and mentions three names. One is Amurru, a god worshiped in Mesopotamia. The other two are historical kings, father and son, who we recently succeeded in tracking down in other texts on clay tablets from the same period, i.e., the 18th century B.C.," Fischer said. "We are currently trying to determine why the seal ended up in Cyprus, more than 1,000 kilometres [620 miles] from where it was made." An analysis of the ceramic wares in the tombs showed that the styles in which they were crafted changed over time, which also helped date the findings, Fischer said.
Gem-Studded, Gold-Filled, Bronze-Age Cyprus Tombs for the Elite — 'Among the Richest Ever Found in the Mediterranean'
In July 2023, scientists announced that had uncovered hundreds of ancient artifacts, including headbands of pure gold, have been unearthed from elite Bronze Age tombs on Cyprus. The finds show how wealth people were on the copper-rich island. The artifacts include many imported into Cyprus from other major cultures in the region, including the Minoans on Crete, the Mycenaeans in Greece and the ancient Egyptians. Fischer said the imported objects confirmed the extent of Mediterranean trade during the Late Bronze Age, between about 1640 B.C. and 1050 B.C. "The numerous finds of gold, most likely imported from Egypt but showing mainly Minoan motifs, demonstrate that the Egyptians received copper in exchange," he told Live Science. The archaeologists also found everyday items, such as fishbones from freshwater Nile perch. "They came either with Egyptian ships or with returning Cypriot crews, demonstrating the intense trade between these cultures," Fischer said. [Source: Tom Metcalfe, Live Science, July 13, 2023]
Fischer and his colleagues have been excavating a Bronze Age trading emporium at Hala Sultan Tekke on the southern coast of Cyprus since 2010; and they discovered the elite tombs earlier this year. The two tombs were filled with more than 500 artifacts, including pottery from Crete, Greece and Sardinia; ornaments made of amber from the Baltic; precious stones like blue lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and red carnelian from India; bronze mirrors; and daggers, knives and spearheads. Several items were made from ivory and a distinctive glazed ceramic called faience, which had been brought there from ancient Egypt, according to a statement from the University of Gothenburg.
Artifacts found included a two-handled jug, with a horse-drawn chariot painted on it against a white background and a pure gold headband close up with the image of a bull with horns; and other gold diadems, embossed with images of gazelles, lions and flowers. While they seem to be Minoan in style, the diadems were probably crafted in Egypt during the 18th dynasty, between about 1550 B.C. and 1295 B.C. — and perhaps at the time of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and Nefertiti, according to the statement.
Fischer said the wealth of the island's elites was based on their control of copper ore mines in the Troodos Mountains. The tombs "rank among the richest ever found in the Mediterranean region," Fischer said. "The precious tomb artefacts indicate that their occupants ruled the city, which was a centre for the copper trade in the period between 1500 and 1300 B.C.." At that time, "Cyprus was a 'crucible' of cultures, most likely dominating the trade in the eastern Mediterranean," he said.
The researchers discovered the elite tombs just outside the vast ancient city at Hala Sultan Tekke using magnetometers, which measure the geomagnetic field to reveal where earth underground has been disturbed in the past. Each tomb had several chambers connected to the surface by a narrow passage; and they contained the remains of several people, including those of a woman buried beside a 1-year-old child. It's possible that the tombs were royal, but little is known of the form of government on Cyprus at that time, Fischer said. "The tombs are obviously family tombs… keeping the family together in the afterlife." Fischer said the researchers will use DNA analysis in an effort to determine how the people buried in the tombs were related, while analysis of the ratios of different isotopes (nuclear forms) of strontium in the bones might shed light on their geographical origins. "We have preliminary results which confirm the multiculturality of the inhabitants of Hala Sultan Tekke," he said.
Art in Classical Cyprus (ca. 480–310 B.C.)
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Cypriot sculpture flourished during the early Classical period, and a number of unique examples in the Cesnola Collection of the Metropolitan Museum betray both Greek and Eastern stylistic tendencies. As Cyprus lacks a local source of marble, most sculpture produced on the island is made of local limestone, or terracotta. Only the wealthiest patrons could afford sculpture, such as the sarcophagus from Amathus that is made of marble quarried on the Greek island of Paros. A limestone sarcophagus from Golgoi is carved in low relief with scenes that have parallels in Greek art but show variations in style and detail introduced by local artists. For example, the combatants depicted on this sarcophagus are common motifs in Greek art. Here, however, the Cypriot sculptor has conflated a battle scene with a hunting scene, and has taken more liberties with the scale of the animals than is usually found in Greek art. [Source: Department of Greek and Roman Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007, metmuseum.org \^/]
“Freestanding sculptures reflect Greek traditions, but in an exotic and somewhat less naturalistic manner, more like East Greek sculpture of the late sixth century B.C. Standing figures are often depicted wearing typically East Greek costume with a close-fitting, finely pleated linen chiton and wool himation. The soft modeling of the face, the delicate smile, and advanced left foot derive from East Greek art of the late sixth century B.C. Many of these freestanding Cypriot sculptures were made as votive offerings dedicated at sanctuaries to the gods. \^/
“Cypro-Classical jewelry, especially delicately rendered gold pendants and earrings, demonstrates a blend of Greek and local traditions. Carved gems often depict characteristically Greek representations. At the same time, Cypriot pottery shows a certain independence maintained by local craftsmen on the island. But the large quantities of Greek pottery that have been found in tombs at Marion, Amathus, and Salamis most likely indicate that a number of Greek potters and painters also were working on Cyprus during this time. \^/
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Internet Metropolitan Museum of Art, Live Science, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, the British Museum.Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides and various books and other publications.
Last updated June 2024