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Famagusta - Greek ‘Ammókhostos’, Turkish ‘Gazimagusa’ - is a major port in the Turkish Cypriot-administered area of Cyprus. It lies on the east coast in a bay between Capes Greco and Eloea, east of Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour in Cyprus. Famagusta is a Frankish corruption of its Greek name, which means “buried in the sand,” descriptive of the silted mouth of the Pedieos River north of the town.

It was founded as Arsinoe by the Macedonian Egyptian king Ptolemy II (308–246 BC). An influx of Christian refugees fleeing the downfall of Acre (1291) in Palestine transformed it from a tiny village into one of the richest cities in Christendom. In 1372 the port was seized by Genoa and in 1489 by Venice.

The Turkish armada arrived outside the town in 1570 and put it under siege for a year. In 1571 not only Famagusta, but also all Cyprus was under Turkish rule and remained so until 1878. The end of colonial rule in 1960 led to the intensification of intercommoned strife between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots that concluded in 1974 with Turkish Cypriot rule in North Cyprus.

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