Posted by Gertrude on May 26, 2002 at 00:04:03:
In Reply to: Re: what about the influence of the franks/venetians on the islands? posted by kosta on May 25, 2002 at 22:57:17:
: : Anyway my point is this:
: : 200,000 Franks settled in Cyprus and more or less mixed with locals.
: That number of people isn't enough to put a serious dent in the overall population character. Also, the dominant racial element among Franks is the Alpine. Most Cypriots are Dinarics and Armenoids; these are simply blends of Alpines with various types of Mediterraneans, so in a sense, the Franks never added anything new racially . They just re-introduced more of one of the existing "ingredients."
Actually for a population of 500,000 back then this was quite important! Also in Nicosia the most common element there is Alpine, *not* Mediterannean.
:
: : 3.Most (but definitely not all) coastal Cypriots are dark in complexion.
: Keep in mind, though, that Cyprus is not really a "Greek" land; Cyprus is/was a *colony* of Greeks, just like Sicily or the Crimea. The dark Cypriots are very likely aboriginal inhabitants, akin to Anatolians, who are only Hellenic in culture. The original inhabitants of Cyprus couldn't have just dissapeared.
Cyprus was a mixture of Minoan-related (akin to Linear A I believe speaking) people, Phoenicians and Greeks with some oriental elements. No different to the majority of original Aegean islands, before the disbursment of modern Hellens in the modern state. Also Asia Minor was a colony of Greece in the past and never a Greek land as such either. How do you justify the 1,000,000 'Greeks' who were settled in the modern Greek state at the beginning of this century? They were Hellenised peoples as well (like most modern Greeks). Also our languge and culture contains more ancient Greek elements than 'Attic' Greece.