Hidden in the heart of the Mediterranean lies a capital unlike any other.Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, remains divided by barbed wire and checkpoints — the last split capital in Europe. Once a crossroads of empires, centuries of conquest, colonisation, and rivalry left a line that still cuts through its streets today. From Ottoman rule to British control, independence to invasion, this is the story of how a pencil mark on a map became a frontier that endures half a century later.