Cyprus

The equivalent of the Knights of St. John in Cyprus was the Ottoman Empire, which had conquered the island from its former Venetian masters in 1571 and had imposed a unique system of administration on this province. In general the Cyprians enjoyed a greater degree of autonomy under the Ottoman sultanate, a result of its unique place in the Empire and its religious composition (a mix of Orthodox Christians and Muslims). However, in the 1870s, the island would gain a new importance in Anglo-Ottoman relations, particularly with the resurgence of the "Near Eastern Question". The Russian Empire was on the warpath in 1870, and the Ottoman Empire was its main obstacle to expanding into the Balkans and marching on Constantinople (reclaiming it as the "Third Rome" and the beacon of Orthodox Christianity). So where does the British Empire come into all this I hear you potentially ask? As always, the answer is geopolitical and concerns not the British home isles directly, but rather, one of their imperial possessions: India. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Palmerston in 1835 on this longstanding concern:

""Sooner or later, the Cossack and the Sepoy [Indian soldier serving under Britain], the man from the Baltic and he from the British islands will meet in the centre of Asia. It should be our business to make sure that the meeting is as far off from our Indian possessions as may be convenient."^(1)

In the eyes of Benjamin Disraeli's administration of the 1870s, the British feared that Russian expansion into the Levant would ultimately lead to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which would then give Russia unopposed access to the Middle East, Persia, and most critically, an overland route to threaten the British Raj. To combat this threat, the British under Disraeli sought a new possession in the Mediterranean which would allow them not only to "prop-up" the flagging Ottomans should a crisis with Russia occur, but also to directly threaten the advance of any Tsarist forces into the Balkans and the Levant. The process of selecting which territory best achieved these dual purposes began formally in 1876.

In that year, Lord Salisbury (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Disraeli) dispatched war office intelligence department official Colonel Robert Home to Constantinople to study the fortifications near the Straits as well as advise on military matters with the Ottoman officials. In 1878, in hasty preparations for the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Home wrote a memorandum for Salisbury to take into account. Here are a few critical extracts from it:

"What we require militarily speaking...is some place that shall give us potentially the Keys of Asia Minor. Some place sufficiently large for us to assemble an Army on, to make it the secure base for checking any hostile advance from the Caucasus, or the head waters of the Tigris and Euphrates or either the Persian Gulf or Suez Canal...

Looking to the naval requirements we need a good and easily defensible harbour - from which our men of war can watch the lines of communication with India passing through the Suez Canal and where they may securely coal...

The following places have been proposed: The Peninsula of Gallipoli with the territory on the Asiatic side between the Gulf of Edremid and the Sea of Marmora**.** The Island of Myteleni, the Island of Lemnos, the Island of Stampalia, the Island of Crete, Scanderoon, Haifa, Alexandria, the Island of **Cyprus.**^(2)

Quite literally then, Cyprus was the last in a long list of recommended territories for the British to take control of from the Ottomans. Below are the reasons why it became the final choice:

• Gallipoli was too detached from the trade routes with India, and posed potential "custom house" problems, being a continental territory.
• The Island of Lemnos did have a good harbour, but was too close to the mouth of the Dardanelles and also removed from the India trade routes.
• The Island of Myteleni had many of the same flaws as Lemnos, and both were deemed "too close" to the mouth of the Dardanelles, making them ideal observation posts but not military bases.
• The Island of Stampalia did have a good position in relation to the India trade routes, but was too small to sustain a considerable British garrison (let alone a sizable army contingent). Further, the water supply was deemed inadequate for the needs of any British force in the future.
• The Island of Crete however, was perfectly situated to watch the Adriatic and the Egean seas. It was productive and large in size, with good harbours perfect for the Navy to use as a base. However, it's outstanding problem was that the populace was deemed "too homogeneous" and with loft national aspirations. An occupation of this island would likely lead to a scuffle with Greece, something Whitehall wanted to avoid at all costs.
• Scanderoon did offer many strategic and economic advantages, often described as the "gate of Asia", but Home assessed it to be too remote on its own, necessitating an undesirable occupation of further territories in the region.
• Accre and Haifa were rather bluntly called as "not good" by Home (the most informal and direct statement I've ever read, and one which merits some laughter). They were deemed too small and too inadequate in water supply.
• Alexandria did offer many advantages, but being the sole Port of Egypt, it would require an occupation of the entire country, something Home believed was out of the question. Amusingly enough, the British would establish a Protectorate over Egypt after invading in 1882, just four years after Home's memorandum.
• Cyprus then, was deemed to "offer very great advantages". It was perfectly sized and had some resources which the government could use to economic benefit. It's populace was mixed, a key characteristic which in Home's eyes, could allow the British to use it as an "experiment" in treating the Near Eastern question. It possessed ideal facilities for the Army and Navy, and it was commercially viable.

It was perhaps in large part due to this analysis by Home that the Cyprus Convention of June 4th, 1878, formally handed over the island from the Ottoman Empire to the British Empire. Ten days later, Prussia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Russia (with great annoyance) agreed to the transfer in the Treaty of Berlin. Under the terms of the Convention, the island was leased to Britain as long as it could help maintain Ottoman independence from Russia, and the British were required to pay annual reimbursements to the sultanate (the amount of this reimbursement was the estimated amount of money the Ottomans would have made from the island normally).

On the island itself, the Cypriots did not view this change of possession with much concern, they carried out their lives in much the same fashion as they had when the Sublime Porte and not Westminster ruled supreme. In 1914, the island would be formally annexed by Britain when the Ottomans joined the Central Powers in the Great War, a move which alarmed many Cypriots and would later form the basis of revolt against the British mother country.

Hopefully this response was interesting as well as helpful, and feel free to ask any followup questions about British geopolitical policy in the 1800s as you see fit!

Greetings! This is an interesting question indeed, and it seems curious that these two Mediterranean possessions of the Empire (alongside the gateway rock of Gibralatar) formed the linchpin of British Imperial policy for much of the post-Napoleonic era and into the 20th century. The answer actually differs entirely for both of the colonies, and in the case of Malta, I must admit that source work on the justification of colonialism post-1815 is a bit hard to come by. Regardless, let's begin.

Malta

The question of Malta was a curious one. A territory of the Knights of St. John and the local Maltese people (whose own heritage and cultural origins are a wonder in and of themselves) for centuries before the British came to their shores. However, in 1798, the Knights of St. John did not face the cannons of the Royal Navy or troops flying the Union Jack, they faced a rising star of France: Napoleon Bonaparte, leading his Egyptian Expedition. The fort of Malta surrendered after minor resistance (Napoleon losing only three men in the process), and the island became a French territory (handy as a critical naval base for the French Navy). However, three months into the occupation, the Maltese people revolted against their French masters, laying siege to the French garrison for two years until their surrender on September 5, 1800.

In the process of this siege, the British and Portuguese assisted by dispatching naval units to blockade Valletta, the capital of Malta and key holdout of the French garrison. It was the British "god of war" Lord Nelson who dispatched this aid, with the Royal Navy's contingent arriving on October 4th, 1799. It was commanded by Captain Alexander Ball, whose courtesy and professionalism in supporting the Maltese was highly appreciated. After the French left, the Maltese had a...messy decision to say the least of which nation they would come under the protection of. Initially, this would be the Italian state of Naples, as under the Act of Donation of Charles V if the Knights ever left Malta it would return to Siciliy, which at this time was a possession of the King of Naples (King Ferdinand IV). But the Maltese were skeptical of having Naples as the controlling state, mostly due to its reluctance and delay in assisting with the ousting of the French, as well as the Neapolitan fleet being too weak to successfully guard Malta year-round. The obvious second choice then, was the British, whose naval power in the region was second to none. Even as early as January 29th, 1799, Ball sent a letter to Nelson expressing this pro-British sentiment:

"I have the satisfaction to acquaint your lordship that the conduct of the captains, officers, and men under my command during the late land co-operation has given the Maltese the highest opinion of the character of the British nation. They wish very much to be under our Government, and have a general aversion to the Neapolitan one."^(1)

The Maltese even went so far as to petition Ferdinand IV to transfer Malta to British rule, although this effort was overshadowed by a separate British and French Peace in 1801, which returned the Knights of St. John to the island. Deeply upset by the return of rulers whom the Maltese viewed as incompetent and weak, they attempted in vain to convince King George III and the British parliament to announce control over Malta (even going so far as to dispatch a delegation to London in March 1802, consisting of seven people and two priests). In the 1802 Treaty of Amiens, which ended the French Revolutionary Wars, explicitly mentioned the question of Malta for much of Article X, here's a few of the clauses:

The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, shall be restored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem to be held on the same conditions, on which it possessed them before the war, and under the following stipulations.

1. The knights of the order whose Langues shall continue to subsist after the exchange of the ratification of the present treaty, are invited to return to Malta, as soon as the exchange shall have taken place. They shall there form a general chapter, and proceed to the election of a grand master, chosen from among the natives of those nations which are to preserve their Langues, unless that election has been already made since the exchange of the preliminaries.

It is understood that an election made subsequent to that epoch, shall alone be considered valid, to the exclusion of any other that have taken place at any period prior to that epoch.

2. The governments of the French republic, and of Great Britain, desiring to place the order and island of Malta in a state of entire independence with respect to themselves, agree that there shall not be in future either a French or an English Langue; and that no individual belonging to either the one or to the other of these powers shall be admitted into the order.^(2)

However, the Maltese people refused to accept the Treaty's ruling on them, and issued a statement called the Declaration of Rights of the Maltese Islands and its Dependencies, which stated the rights of the Maltese people to choose their own rulers, and favoured the British heavily. The British were also gaining interest in Malta, and Civil Commissioner Ball (yes the same one who had helped blockade Valletta earlier on) refused to accept the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, going so far as to order all Neapolitan forces off the island in 1803. It was this reluctance of British withdrawal, a clear breach of the treaty of Amiens, which contributed to the Napoleonic Wars starting again in 1803.

From 1803 onwards to 1813, Malta served as a protectorate of the British Empire, still retaining its own political structure and autonomy, though the British maintained a large presence on the islands as well. It was in 1813 that the Bathurst Constitution changed Malta into a Crown Colony, which transferred practically all control of the territory to the British government in London. At the Treaty of Paris in 1814, this was ratified and accepted by all the great powers of Europe, in a rather brief yet blunt article:

"VII.—The island of Malta and its dependencies shall belong in full right and sovereignty to his Britannic majesty."

The Maltese people were mixed on this transfer of power to the British. Although they preferred the British to any other nation, they had hoped to retain some independence from Whitehall. Regardless of such concerns however, Malta would soon evolve into a key stronghold of the British Empire. It's Grand Harbour served as a resupply station and (for times) a home base for the Mediterranean fleet while it was on active duty in the latter half of the 1800s. The Maltese people may not have gotten the type of imperial control that they had desired, but it was the better source of control which ultimately justified the British rule to them.

Up next (read: tomorrow): Cyprus, where the British encountered the "sick man of Europe", pondered the question of the Russian Bear, and employed some classic economic imperialism.