Famagusta
[key], Gr. Ammochostos, city, E Cyprus, on Famagusta Bay.
An important port and a Turkish administrative center, the city was
completely evacuated in 1974 when Turkey invaded the island. Before 1974 the
majority of the population had been Greek Cypriots. Farming is the main
occupation, and there are other light industries. Famagusta occupies the
site of ancient Arsinoë, built (3d cent. b.c.) by Ptolemy II. After the fall (1291) of
Acre (see Akko) to the
Saracens, Christian refugees greatly increased the city's wealth. The seat
(15th–16th cent.) of the Venetian governors of Cyprus, it was
strongly fortified by the Venetians; the governor's palace, the Cathedral of
St. Nicholas, and many churches testify to its medieval splendor. As a
British naval base the city was heavily bombed in World War II, and from
1946 to 1948 a British internment camp for illegal Jewish immigrants to
Palestine was maintained near the city. Famagusta is thought to be the scene
of Acts II through V of Shakespeare's Othello.
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