Under
Lusignan and Venetian rule, Kyrenia District was known as the contrée (French) or contrade (Italian ) of Cérines, which was one of the eleven provinces of the
Kingdom of Cyprus. At that time, the province of Nicosia, known as the Vicomté, extended closer to the sea, encroaching upon the Pentadaktylos foothills in the present Kyrenia District. Under Ottoman Turkish rule, Kyrenia was one of the six cazas into which the island was divided. The
Caza of Kyrenia, was divided into three
nahiehs – Kyrenia, Lefka and Morphou. The caza was headed by a Kaimakan. When the British took control of Cyprus in 1878, these administrative units were retained. But by 1881, Kyrenia Caza was reduced to one nahieh, namely Kyrenia, which covered roughly the same as its present area. A British officer styled a Commissioner (later District Officer) was appointed for the Caza, while the Turkish Kaimakan was initially retained with certain of his functions. In 1881 the Caza and Nahieh of Kyrenia had a population of 13,266, (Greek 75%, Turkish 20%), representing 7% of the population of Cyprus. By 1960 the population had grown to 31,015 (Greek 79%, Turkish 14%, Maronite 6%). The Maronite population was almost entirely located in the villages of
Kormakiti,
Asomatos and
Karpaseia. ==Settlements==