Historical Route

HISTORY OF LATSIA

The oldest tracings of civilisation in Latsia are to be found in a small structure and a reservoir, dating back to the Hellenistic age (325-50 BC). Yet, there is no other evidence to support that Latsia was a settlement during that era. We, therefore, must seek its origins back to the middle Ages. Latsia was probably a big feud during the Frankish Period (1192-1489) and the Venetian era (1489-1570); that is what the verbal tradition reports, backed up by maps of the relative periods. In 1571, when the Ottomans took over Cyprus, Latsia became a “ciftlik” (estate, a large parcel of land, cultivated by the locals and owned by a wealthy Turk, called “aga”) and, presumably (according to the verbal tradition) the dense population was wiped out by the conquerors.

In 1790, Kuroghlou, the aga of several areas (Aglandjia, Chrysospiliotissa, Dhali, Dheftera, Latsia, Pallouriotissa, Psimolophou, Strovolos and Yeri) - and, according to our national poet, Vasilis Michaelides, a personal friend of Archbishop Kyprianos - decided to sell one of his ciftliks to the people who cultivated them, because he was more than content by their work, and also by their “gifts”, which included tarry pine firewood. We, however, must also account for the continuous droughts and scabs, the diminished efficiency of the cultivations and the dishonesty of some slaves, factors which contributed to his decision to sell up a parcel. It appears that Kuroughlou decided to couple kindness with selling. The farmers were villagers from Lythrodontas, a large village about 21 Km (13 mi) to the South-West of Nicosia. They had to choose between Latsia and Koupati, an area to the central-eastern part of Nicosia. They chose Latsia, because it was nearer to Lythrodontas but, also, because it was much bigger and more fertile, allowing them to cultivate all sorts of agricultural products.

Thus, sixteen (16) Greek-Cypriots and a Turkish-Cypriot “kadi” (chief-judge), called Kufis, bought Latsia, an area of 11.600 dona (1 donum = 1.337,8 sq. metres or 14,400 sq. ft) for the price of 14 pockets (a pocket was worth 500 “rialia”, the money of that time). Kufis offered one fifth of the price and the village was divided into twenty (20) parcels, four (4) for Kufis and one (1) for each Greek-Cypriot. Kufis, owning considerable property in Lythrodontas, helped them to ensure their safety in Latsia and also helped them when Kuroghlou’s descendants set up a claim for the ciftlik. These seventeen persons revitalised the settlement, a hamlet in fact, by coming in the autumn (October and November) to sow wheat and plant olive trees and in the summer (May to August) to harvest the wheat crop, rip and thresh, and collect the olives. However, they chose not to reside in Latsia, not only because they thought Lythrodontas was a better and more secure place (the so-called “small Paris”), but also because there were no educational or structural means in the village. Only a handful of people resided in Latsia, in order to cultivate the corn, water the olive trees and ensure that everything was all right. Kufis gave away some part of the land to his brother, who - in turn - sold it to six (6) Greek-Cypriots for the price of a pocket for 100 dona. These six men resided permanently in Latsia, in order to carry out the farming and fixing stuff. On 30 April 1909 (two years after Kufis’ death), the four heirs sold their territorial rights to eight (8) Greek-Cypriots for the price of £350. It is common to find micro-toponyms related to the first buyers.

In the middle of the 19th century, some of the owners began settling in Latsia, not only because the land was more fertile, but also due to the proximity of Latsia to Nicosia - the centre of the island’s financial and commercial life - so they could sell their products more easily. However, it was not until 1930 that an Elementary school was founded. Previously, the children had to attend school either in Lythrodontas or Yeri, a nearby village. Several houses from the late 19th and early 20th century can be found in the old Latsia area. Because the primary income for the people of Lythrodontas came from oil production, they started planting more and more olive trees in Latsia.

After World War II, more and more people from Lythrodontas began migrating to Latsia, along with their extended families, thus the population continued to increase. The Turkish invasion and continuing occupation forced 185.000 - 200.000 Cypriots to become refugees in their own country, necessitating the building of numerous refugee housing estates by the government throughout the island. Three of them were built in Latsia (plus a refugee self-housing estate), increasing the population dramatically. This, in combination with the general trend of people from the centre of Nicosia and villages close to the capital to move to areas in the suburbs of Nicosia, resulted into the population explosion that made Latsia a small town that continues to rapidly grow.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME - MAPPING

The name “Latsia” is in fact pronounced <STRONG>“Lachi'a”<STRONG>, but it is conventionally written Latsia. The name derives from “lachin” (meaning a small well or shallow “lakkos”, i.e. a hole). Lachia comes from the numerous lachouthkia (i.e. small shallow holes) present in the area, used for irrigation and the hydration of the animals. According to the tradition, the area was very fertile and rich in underground water, to a point where if one would dig a lakkos (i.e. a hole) of 5 ft (1,52 m) depth, they would find water. It is not uncommon to find similar toponyms in Cyprus, such as Lachin (Latsin) village in Poli Chrysokhous. The name is in plural <STRONG>(Lachia)<STRONG>, because there were many lachoi. The name is not “Lakkia”, exactly because Cypriots used to call them lachoi, not lakkoi (standard Greek type). It’s clearly plain as the nose on your face that the claims that the forms “Latsia” and “Aglandjia” are Turkish and that the forms “Lakkia” and “Aglangia” are Greek are not only unconvincing, but also errant and false. That is also why there are many toponyms containing the name “Laxia” (small valley). Latsia has 73 registered toponyms, which can be traced in topographical maps (1:2.500 and 1:5.000) and the “Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, Volume 1, Nicosia, pp. 1670” by Menelaos Christodoulou, although Constantine Kentis refers 27 more toponyms, which can be found in his work “History and toponyms of Latsia” (Reprint from Cyprus Studies, Vol. XXVI, Nicosia, 1962).

The name can also be traced in “EXCERPTA CYPRIA”, a chronicle written by Leondios Makhaeras in the 16th century (“Cyprus Annals”, year XIII, 1937, pages 1, 2, 3 and 52). The earliest account of the name dates back to the 14th of December 1533. The suburb is referred to as “Lachia” in the Venetian maps of the 14th to 17th centuries. In 1878, Herbert Horatio Kitchener, Lieutenant of the Royal Engineers of the British Empire was appointed to map the island, producing the first full triangulated map of Cyprus (1881); he “renamed” the suburb to “Laxia”, just as he did with Tseri [a village about 6 Km (4 mi) to the South-West of Latsia], renaming it to “Xeri”, a fact that influenced Athanasios Sakellarios, the producer of the first Greek map of the island, to refer to the suburb as “Laxia”. Most Cyprus maps before and after the independence and, for many years after, were produced by the United Kingdom (Directorate of Overseas Surveys and UK Military Survey). They adopted Kitchener’s names and, thus, the name Laxia is to be found on many map series, like the Cadastral Sheets of 2 inches to 1 mile (about 1:31.565,6), the 1:25.000 K817, K8110 and Cyprus Town Plan series, the 1:5.000 and 1:2.500 topographical maps (DLS 17) and the many maps of the Department of Lands and Surveys and Geological Survey Department, usually at a scale of 1:250.000 up until the early 1980s,. From roughly 1985 until 1993, most of the maps refer to the suburb as Latsia. K717 maps series (UK Military Survey, scale 1:50.000) and 1501 & 1501 AIR series maps (UK Military Survey, Joint Operations Graphic, scale 1:250.000) refer to the suburb as Laxia (Lacha). The early maps of the HMGS (Hellenic Military Geographical Service) refer to the suburb as Laxia (Latsia), but the newer ones (after 1991), only mention Latsia.

From 1987 to 1995, various attempts were made to alter the name of the Μunicipality to “Lakkia”, based on the false impression of Menelaos Christodoulou (president of the Cyprus Permanent Committee for the standardisation of Geographical Names) about the origin of the name. In 1987, Menelaos Christodoulou published the “Complete Gazetteer of Cyprus, Volume 1, Nicosia, pp. 1670”, a monumental book that included all the villages and towns of the island, along with all macrotoponyms and microtoponyms that were registered by the Department of Lands and Surveys, along with UTM 1.000 m georeference (based on the 1:50.000 K717 map series). Despite the fact that this work is invaluable and, until today, unprecedented by any other similar attempt to register the place names of Cyprus, the author wrote many villages and municipalities (such as Aglandja, Assia, Latsia and Louroudjina) with an errant name - according to his own, subjective, etymology - forcing the government to adopt the new “names” in 1991. Mr. Christodoulou used the name “Lakkia” for our municipality - in violation of the article 7a of the “Municipalities Law”, III/1985 - despite the fact that in four (4) earlier attempts to register the names of villages of Cyprus, he proposed the name “Latsia” [“Transliteration of geographical names of Cyprus” (“Cypriot Word”, Vol.1, 1969, p. 102-112 and 125-131), appendix to “Eponymic of Cyprus” by Simos Menardos (reprint of “Eponymic and folkloric studies” - a work that was first published in 1906, in “Athena” magazine, XVIII, p. 315-421 - by the Centre of Scientific Researches), “Small Contribution in the historical standardisation and transliteration of Greek toponyms” (“Centre of Scientific Researches Yearbook”, V, 1971-1972, p. 79-144) and “Concise Gazetteer of Cyprus” (Nicosia, 1982)]. Constantine Kentis refers to the suburb as Latsia (“History and Toponyms of Latsia”, Cyprus Studies, Vol. XXVI, 1962, p. 147-163), and so do Simos Menardos in “Eponymic and folkloric studies” (see above) and professor Costas Pilavakis in “Folkloric Cyprus” (Nicosia, 1977).

In 1994, the first edition of the Postal Code guide mentioned the suburb as Lakkia. From 1994 up until 2001/2002, all maps published by the Department of Lands and Surveys, the Geological Survey Department and the Civil Aviation Department reported the suburb as Lakkia, following the post-1987 maps that the government circulated in the United Nations. These maps include the 1:500.000 aeronautical chart (ICAO, 2426-A Cyprus), the 1:250.000 administrative, geological and geophysical maps (DLS 39, DLS 50, KXT 40 and KXT 51) and the 1:100.000 district maps (DLS 29). The 1:100.000 topographical maps (DLS 18 and KXT 6) refer to the suburb as Lakkia (Latsia). The case with official mail, birth certificates and road signs was much about the same, yet after an active and energetic mobilisation of the Latsia Municipality, a dual name was initially adopted [Latsia (Lakkia)], to be replaced by the legitimate name a few years later, which is and remains LATSIA. Currently, all road signs refer to Latsia and the Postal Code guide refers to Latsia (Lakkia). It is estimated that, right after the old maps stop circulating, the new maps will report the municipality as Latsia, as the case is with the 1:7.500 Latsia street name map (ΚΧΤ 52), available in Greek only.