FACTBOX - Facts and figures on Cyprus

(Reuters) - Following are some key facts on Cyprus, where a symbol of 50 years of division came down on Thursday after Greek and Turkish Cypriots reopened Ledra Street, a thoroughfare in medieval capital Nicosia.

GEOGRAPHY - Third largest island in the Mediterranean after Sardinia and Corsica, lying south of Turkey. At 9,251 square km (3,572 sq miles), it is comparable in size to the U.S. state of Connecticut. Only 10 percent of its landscape is arable, and the island suffers from severe water shortages. Water is desalinated from the sea.

HISTORY - Invaded repeatedly throughout the ages. Became part of the Ottoman empire in 1571, ceded to Britain in 1878, became a Crown Colony in 1925. Gained independence in 1960, invaded by Turkey in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 and the euro zone in 2008. EU membership effectively excludes the north, a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state which unilaterally declared independence in 1983 and is recognised only by Ankara. Cyprus is a source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey.

CONSTITUTION - Provides for a Greek Cypriot President and Turkish Cypriot vice president. The latter seat has been empty since 1963, when a power-sharing administration collapsed because of constitutional changes pursued by the Greek Cypriots. Cyprus has a presidential system with a strong executive.

PEOPLE - Main ethnic group are Greek Cypriots, followed by Turkish Cypriots. Population of around one million, of whom some 750,000 live on the southern, Greek Cypriot side. About a quarter of the population were internally displaced in 1974, and in ethnic violence after independence. Sides are separated by a U.N. peacekeeping force first dispatched in 1964.

Official languages are Greek and Turkish, with English widely spoken. Cypriot dialect -- featured recently in Hollywood blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" -- is used widely in everyday language, but mainlanders from Greece and Turkey can rarely follow it.

(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Catherine Evans)