During the end of the nineteenth century, France and England were antagonising each other as to who would be getting what from the fast-disintegrating Ottoman Empire.
Both countries cast their eye upon Cyprus. A community of French people living in Larnaca got together and wrote to Napoleon III asking him to come and take the island, which was, after all, a Lusignan kingdom for almost 300 years. By the time Napoleon decided what he wanted to do, England signed the Anglo-Turkish convention, whereby England guaranteed the borders of Turkey against Russian encroachment. In return, England was given the island of Cyprus. The French were furious.
A French satirical magazine called Le Charivari published a series of cartoons against England!
PNT-00640: Actualités-Chypre Albion, Charles (Cham) Amédée de Noé, lithograph on paper (photocopy), 1878
The ‘Did You Know’ series is made possible with the support of OPAP (Cyprus).
