Cyprus is a small island and does not have a lot of mountains but it has some quite impressive ones. Those include Kyrenia Mountains, Mount Olympus (Troodos), Troodos mountain, Pentadaktylos mountain and Stavrovouni (mountain). The most famous ones are those of Troodos mountain and Pentadaktylos one.
Cyprus, with its particular location in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, presents one of the richest flora in the area. This is due to various reasons such as its geological structure, the climatic conditions, the island character, the sea which surrounds it as well as the topographic layout. The study of the Cypriot flora is one of the most important activities of the forest department.
At the mere mention of the word snake, we are completely taken over by fear. In general young and old have learnt to be afraid of snakes and unfortunately kill them. This is completely wrong. The snakes in Cyprus are a treasure and must be treated with respect.
According to tradition, the Cypriots are the eldest wine producers in the world. Until lately, clues showed that the production of wine in Cyprus began around 2000 B.C. Recently though, Italian archaeologists studied the number of containers which were found in 1993 by the Cypriot Archaeologist Porfirios Dikeos in Erimi. This proved that the containers which were 5500 years old were used for wine. Therefore Cypriots produced wine a lot earlier before Greeks, possibly even 1500 years earlier.
The principle religion in Cyprus is Orthodoxy. The biggest part of Cyprus population (around 78% of the total population) belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus. The Turkish – Cypriots (18%) are Muslim. There are also other minorities such as the Maronites and the Armenian Apostolics, Jewish and Roman Catholics which make up about 4%.
Cyprus joined the European Union on the 1st of May 2004 after many years of meetings and political talks. In order to enter the EU, Cyprus had to bring many areas to ex the EU standards which Cyprus was expected to have in order to be accepted. However this only applied for the southern part of Cyprus as the northern part is not recognised as an official country or government.
With the expression of fauna we mean the total of animal organisms in an area, such as mammals, birds, amphibians, insects, fish, different microorganisms and other species which are the subject of study in Zoology.
