In 1841 the then governor Talaat Efendi, who was appointed in Cyprus to implement the Tanzimat reforms, conducted a population census (not taxpayers). The census found the total population of the island amounting to 108,600 people. On a district level; Limassol, with 65 villages, had 2,000 Turks and 6,500 Greeks.
In his 1847 report Margaritis, the Greek vice-consul, mentions that in the district of Limassol there were 6,800 Christians and 1,700 Muslims, with a totalling population of 8,500.
The town itself had 2,000 inhabitants, of whom 500 were Muslims. Margaritis also notes that there were two mosques in Limassol, and claimed that the Turks of this town and of Larnaca all spoke Greek and were the least fanatics due to their interaction with Europeans and foreign merchants.
PNT-00350 > Luigi Mayer, Roadstead in the island of Cyprus, showing the ramparts of Amathunta and the town of Limassol, 1792, Watercolour, 36 x 50 cm.
© Costas and Rita Severis Foundation
