churches in Soli, Vouni, Solia and Maratasa in the Troodos Mountains. The count of Jaffa had a farm in the nearby Peristeronari. In the early 16th century, the town was recorded to be the centre of a bailaggio consisting of a group of villages. The land consisted of crown estates, and during the first three decades of the century, the peasant population multiplied, the amount of cultivated lands as well as the price for the lease of the estates increased, in line with demographic and economic trends elsewhere in Cyprus. Cultivation included sugar plantations on royal estates in the 14th and 15th centuries. Lefka and Morphou had been particularly chosen in the acquisition of royal estates for the profitable cultivation of sugar, being placed at the fertile western end of the Mesaoria plain. After the 1571 Ottoman conquest of Cyprus, Turks from Anatolia were settled in the land and houses that belonged to the Latins in the town. Later, Ottoman officers and their descendants whose service in the island was over also settled in the town. Lefka thus became a mixed town with a Turkish Cypriot majority and Greek Cypriot minority; in 1831, its adult male population was 328, comprising 294 Turkish Cypriots and 34 Greek Cypriots. In 1891, its population was 907, with 741 Turkish and 166 Greek Cypriots. The population increased to 1143 in 1901, then dropped to 1008 in 1911. In 1921, the population was 1163. After 1921, the population increased rapidly as the copper mines began to be operated again by the Cyprus Mines Corporation (CMC). The population was 1781 in 1931 and 3666 (2685 Turkish Cypriots and 981 Greek Cypriots) in 1946. Due to the Cypriot intercommunal violence, most of the Greek Cypriot population of the town fled in the late 1950s. The town became a Turkish Cypriot enclave following the Bloody Christmas of 1963-64, and it saw an influx of Turkish Cypriot refugees from nearby villages, which they were forced to leave. The population has increased from 3674 (3586 Turkish Cypriots, 88 Greek Cypriots) in 1960 to a purely Turkish Cypriot 4544 in 1973. Places of interest The village is home to three mosques. These are the Piri Mehmet Pasha Mosque, Orta Mosque ("Middle Mosque") and the Aşağı Mosque ("Lower Mosque"). The Piri Mehmet Pasha Mosque is by far the oldest. Its site is said to be the site of the Byzantine church of