The Mesaoria (, ) is a broad, sweeping plain which makes up the north centre of the island of Cyprus.

Geography

The Mesaoria is the name given to the broad tract of plain which extends across the island from the Bay of Famagusta in the east to that of Morphou in the west, which is a length of 96 km, with a breadth varying from 16 to 32 km. The streams which traverse it are mere winter torrents, which descend from the southern chain but scarcely reach the sea. The Pedias (Pediaeus) and lalias (Yialias, Idalias) lose most of their flood waters in the marshes about Salamis, near the Bay of Famagusta. The Pedias rises near Machaira and passes close to

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, indeed flowed through it before the river was diverted by the Venetians. The lalias rises very near the source of the Pedias, passes through Nisou, Dali (the ancient Idalion) and Pyroi, and traverses the Mesaoria in a direction more or less parallel with the Pedias. A smaller but more constant streams is the Cares (Clarios), which flows from the slopes of Troodos into the Bay of Morphou. The Mesaoria

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

is bounded on the east and west by the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, on the south by the Troodos mountains and on the north by the Kyrenia mountains (Pentadaktylos). It has an area of approximately 1000 km² (390 mi²). It rises to an altitude of 325 m (1066 ft), with an average elevation of perhaps 100 m (330 ft). There are a number of rivers and other water courses crossing this plain, but none of them have water year round. The Alluvial Plains of the centre of the island are for the most part the product of successive rain-storms and floods which have brought down from the mountains immense quantities of light debris which has been spread over the lower lands, principally by human agency exerted in the system of ''colmatage'', which has been practised from time immemorial. This has resulted in the general raising of the land surface and incidentally in the natural reclamation of many acres of land in the lower parts of the Mesaoria, which once were arms of the sea. The word "Mesaoria" (sometimes spelled "Mesarya"), means "between the mountains" in Greek. For the most part, the Mesaoria is a flat, bare plain, with few trees except for those planted as windbreaks. It is the agricultural heartland of Cyprus, but it depends completely on winter rainfall and

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

for its water, which limits production. It is also the most settled region on the island, containing dozens of villages and many of the largest towns, including the capital,

. Due to deforestation, much of the Mesaoria is covered with "Kafkalla", which is a local term referring to

calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in Rock (geology), rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skel ...

that has been compacted into a

hardpan In soil science, agriculture and gardening, hardpan or soil pan is a dense layer of soil, usually found below the uppermost topsoil layer. There are different types of hardpan, all sharing the general characteristic of being a distinct soil layer ...

. The only plants that grow well on this surface are quickly eaten by grazing animals, which has greatly exacerbated soil

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

. The plain which has a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

, can be uncomfortably hot in the summer, with temperatures of 40 °C being common. The rainfall on the plain is significantly lower than in the mountains, but in recent years a number of dams and irrigation systems have been constructed to capture the mountain runoff.

History

Twenty million years ago Cyprus was actually two islands, which were the predecessors of the Kyrenia and Troodos mountain ranges. Approximately one million years ago, the Mesaoria plain arose, resulting in the current island of Cyprus. At various times, changing levels of the Mediterranean sea covered and exposed the plain; it has been in its present form since the end of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. The Mesaoria plain shows evidence of cultivation dating from the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. In classical times the entire center of the island was covered by dense forests. Most of these were cut down in the middle of the 1st century BC to provide wood for the Ptolemaic navy. Additionally, much wood was harvested to provide energy for the extraction of

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

. However, as recently as the late sixteenth century there were still significant stands of trees on the plain. Today, the only remaining forested areas are on the surrounding mountains, particularly the Troodos range. As evidenced by a papal document in 1196, the eastern region of Mesaoria had become settled with a dense network of villages by the 12th century. The plain served as the island's prime agricultural region. A single line of railway of 2 ft 6in gauge was constructed the full length of the plain, from Famagusta to Nicosia (36 miles) and then to

Karavostasi Karavostasi (; ) is a town in Cyprus, north of Lefka. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. Karavostasi is home to the port of Gemikonağı, which was historically used for exporting copper but is inactive since 1992. Before ...

, on the Bay of Morphou (a further 34 miles). Work was begun in 1904 and Nicosia the capital was connected on 21 October 1905. The line was closed in 1951.Cyprus Narrow Gauge. By Hugh Ballantyne (2007). Middleton Press.

Notes

{{Coord, 35, 10, N, 33, 40, E, source:kolossus-hewiki, display=title Landforms of Northern Cyprus Plains of Cyprus

Geography

History

See also

Notes