About the project

Description

"Economy, environment, and landscape in the Cypriot longue durée" is a research project exploring the intersections of history, geography, economy, society, and environment in Ottoman and British Cyprus. Using Digital Humanities tools, it analyses large datasets from quantitative sources and censuses and combines them with historical maps. The project is hosted at Harokopio University, Athens, and funded by the Sylvia Ioannou Charitable Foundation. The project has three main objectives:
  • to examine for the first time in its entirety and full detail the 1832/33 Ottoman property survey of Cyprus (catalogued as temettüat defteri at the Ottoman archives), composed of four volumes and 1,386 pages
  • to cross-examine the above-mentioned property survey with the 1572 Ottoman fiscal survey of Cyprus, the 1883 Kitchener map of Cyprus, and the 1931 British agricultural census in order to acquire a long-term view of the changes in this island’s landscape over a period of more than three and a half centuries and,
  • to make the research outcomes accessible to the public and communicate knowledge to as broad an audience as possible through the development of targeted educational material addressed to tourists, teachers, students, and anyone interested in the history and geography of Cyprus.
To achieve these goals, the project included the enhancement and enrichment of the 1st version of Kitchener's map web application as well as the processing and analysis of the larger scale maps of the city of Nicosia and the city of Limassol. The maps are available in the archive of the Department of Lands and Surveys (Republic of Cyprus - Ministry of Interior) as well as in the archive of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.

The team

Project supervision, quality assurance, web sites reports and text
Christos Chalkias

Scientific supervisor
Professor
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Geography

Antonis Hadjikyriacou

Scientific co-supervisor
Assistant Professor of Ottoman and Turkish History
Panteion University, Athens

Transcription from Ottoman Turkish and data entry
Sefer Soydar

MA History
Boğaziçi University

Nesli Ruken Han

MA candidate in Ottoman History
University of Crete and Institute for Mediterranean Studies, FO.R.T.H.

Dimitris Giagtzoglou

Doctoral candidate in Ottoman History
University of Crete and Institute for Mediterranean Studies, FO.R.T.H.

Yener Koç

Postdoctoral researcher
Boğaziçi University

Zeynep Akçakaya

Independent scholar

Kitchener's map mobile application design and implementation
Christos Michalakelis

Associate Professor
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Informatics and Telematics

Georgios Chatzithanasis

PhD candidate
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Informatics and Telematics

Georeference of Kitchener's map of Nicosia and vectorization
Kleomenis Kalogeropoulos

PhD candidate
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Geography

Revised georeference of Kitchener's map of Cyprus, vectorization, matching of geographic names to modern locations, geospatial analysis and thematic maps
Evangelos Papadias

PhD candidate
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Geography

Revised vectorization of Kitchener's map of Cyprus
Christos Polykretis

PhD candidate
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Geography

Design and implementation of mobile application and educational material
Dr Despo Pasia

Museum & Art Educator

Dr Evanthia Tselika

Assistant Professor (History of Art)
University of Nicosia

Web sites, web applications, database design and implementation
Christoforos Vradis

PhD candidate
Harokopio University of Athens, Department of Geography

Sylvia Ioannou Charitable Foundation
Sylvia Ioannou Charitable Foundation

  • Dr Maria Yiouroukou
  • Dora Mitsonia
  • Dimitris Stefanou
  • Lefteris Kelaiditis

Acknowledgements

We ought our gratitude to the following institutions:

We would also like to express our special thanks to the Department of Lands and Surveys (Republic of Cyprus - Ministry of Interior) and to the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation for the provision of Nicosia and Limassol city plans respectively.

Related projects

Representations of Cyprus

Discover Cyprus of the past through rare maps and engravings!

The first triangulated survey of Cyprus by Kitchener (1878-1883) (1st edition)

Through a 19th century historic map, a wealth of information on the geography and culture of Cyprus is brought to life. The first edition of the web application is still avaibale here

Ottoman manuscript chart of the Mediterranean

An anonymous cartographer (17th-18th century) recorded 842 placenames, denoting coastal towns, islands, islets, reefs, bays, capes and river estuaries of the Mediterranean basin.