- published: 05 Sep 2006
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- author: angelaThewiTch
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- Achaemenids
- Adana
- Aegean Region
- Aegean Sea
- Aeolis
- Africa
- Akkadian Empire
- Alaca Höyük
- Alanya
- Alaşehir
- Albanians
- Aleppo Pine
- Alexander the Great
- Americas
- An Asian Minor
- Anatolia
- Anatolian beyliks
- Anatolian black pine
- Anatolian hypothesis
- Anatolian languages
- Anatolian leopard
- Anatolian Plate
- Anatolianism
- Anatolikon
- Ancient Greece
- Ancient Greek
- Ancient Rome
- Andean States
- Anglo-America
- Ankara
- Antalya
- Antalya province
- Antarctic
- Antigonid dynasty
- Aphrodisias
- Arabs
- Arameans
- Arbutus andrachne
- Arbutus unedo
- Arctic
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- Armenia
- Armenian Genocide
- Armenian Highland
- Armenian people
- Armenians
- Armutlu Peninsula
- Artemision
- Arzawa
- Asia
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- Assos
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- Assyrian people
- Atlantic Ocean
- Attalid dynasty
- Australasia
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- Ayvalık
- Azeris
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- Bagratuni Dynasty
- Balkan Wars
- Balıkesir Province
- Barley
- Battle of Issus
- Battle of Kadesh
- Battle of Manzikert
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- Bay Laurel
- Behavioral geography
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- Bodrum
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- Bosnians
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- Bronze Age
- Bronze Age collapse
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- Capes of Turkey
- Cappadocia
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- Chechens
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- Cilicia
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- Cinema of Turkey
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- Climatology
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- Constantinople
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- Culture of Turkey
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- Dardanelles
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- Geography of Turkey
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- Health geography
- Hellenistic culture
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- Historical geography
- History of Anatolia
- History of geography
- History of Turkey
- Hittite New Kingdom
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- Hittites
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- Human geography
- Hurrian language
- Hydrography
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- Middle East
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- Music of Turkey
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- Names of Anatolia
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- Olympus
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- Outline of geography
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- Portal Geography
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- Turkish Pine
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- West Africa
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- Wikipedia Merging
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- Zaza people
- Çatalca Peninsula
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-
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
wn.com/Achaemenid_Empire -
Achaemenids
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
wn.com/Achaemenids -
Adana
Adana (pronounced [aˈda.na]) is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea, in south-central Anatolia. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province and has a population of 1.6 million, making it the fifth most populous city in Turkey. Adana-Mersin metropolitan area, with a population of 3 million, stretches over 100 km from east to west and 25 km from north to south; encompassing the cities of Mersin, Tarsus, Adana, and Ceyhan.
Adana lies in the heart of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye, and Hatay. Home to approximately six million people, the region is mostly a large stretch of flat, fertile land regarded as one of the most agriculturally productive areas of the world.
According to numerous sources, the name Adana is derived from the Hittite URUAdaniya of Kizzuwatna, while others assert that it is related to the legendary character Danaus, or to the Danaoi, a mythological Greek tribe who came from Egypt[citation needed] and established themselves in the Greek city Argos.The earlier Egyptian texts for a country Danaja are inscriptions from Thutmosis II (1437 BC) and Amenophis III (1390-1352 BC). After the collapse of the Mycenean civilization (1200 BC) some refugeees from the Aegean area went to the coast of Cilicia. The inhabitants Dananayim or Danuna are identified as one group of the sea-peoples who attacked Egypt on 1191 BC during the reign of Ramesses III. Denyen are identified as inhabitants of the city Adana. It is also possible that the name is connected with the PIE da-nu (river) Da-na-vo (people living by the river), Scythian nomad people, water demons in Rigveda (Danavas).
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Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea (/ɨˈdʒiːən/; Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος, Egeo Pelagos [eˈʝeo ˈpelaɣos] (
listen); Turkish: Ege Denizi or historically Turkish: Adalar Denizi) is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The Aegean Region consists of nine provinces in southwestern Turkey, in part bordering on the Aegean sea.
The sea was traditionally known as Archipelago (in Greek, Αρχιπέλαγος, meaning "chief sea"), but in English this word's meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally, to any island group.
The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi) in area, and measures about 610 kilometres (380 mi) longitudinally and 300 kilometres (190 mi) latitudinally. The sea's maximum depth is 3,543 metres (11,624 ft), east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south (generally from west to east): Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos and Rhodes.
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Akkadian Empire
Coordinates: 33°6′N 44°6′E / 33.1°N 44.1°E / 33.1; 44.1
The Akkadian Empire (Akkadian URUAkkad KI, Hittite KUR A.GA.DÈ.KI "land of Akkad"; Biblical Hebrew אַכַּד Akkad) was an empire centered in the city of Akkad (Sumerian: Agade) and its surrounding region in Mesopotamia.
During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate).
The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of its founder Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC). Under Sargon and his successors, Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in history, though there are earlier Sumerian claimants.[citation needed]
The precise archaeological site of the city of Akkad has not yet been found.[citation needed] The form Agade appears in Sumerian, for example in the Sumerian King List; the later Assyro-Babylonian form Akkadû ("of or belonging to Akkad") was likely derived from this. The etymology and meaning of Akkad (written a.ga.dèKI or URIKI) are unknown. Centuries later, the neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus mentioned in his archaeological records that Ishtar's worship in Agade was later superseded by that of the goddess Anunit, whose shrine was at Sippar—suggesting proximity of Sippar and Agade. Despite numerous searches, the city has never been found. One theory holds that Agade was situated opposite Sippar on the left bank of the Euphrates, and was perhaps the oldest part of the city of Sippar. Another theory is that the ruins of Akkad are to be found beneath modern Baghdad. Reputedly it was destroyed by invading Gutians with the fall of the Akkadian Empire.
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Alaca Höyük
Coordinates: 40°14′04″N 34°41′44″E / 40.23444°N 34.69556°E / 40.23444; 34.69556
Alacahöyük or Alaca Höyük (sometimes also spelt as Alacahüyük, Euyuk, or Evuk) is the site of a Neolithic and Hittite settlement and is an important archaeological site. It is northeast of Boğazkale (formerly and more familiarly Boğazköy), where the ancient capital city Hattusa of the Hittite Empire was situated. Its Hittite name is unknown: connections with Arinna, Tawiniya, and Zippalanda have all been suggested.
The mound (Turkish höyük) at Alacahöyük was the center of a flourishing Hattian culture during the Early Bronze Age. The mound was a scene of settlement in a continuous sequence of development from the Chalcolithic Age, when earliest copper tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools. It has been continuously occupied ever since, until today's modern settlement in the form of a small village. The standing and distinguishing remains at Alacahöyük, however, such as the "Sphinx Gate", date from the Hittite period that followed the Hatti, from the fourteenth century BC.
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Alanya
Alanya (pronounced [aˈɫanja]), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a component district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey, 166 kilometres (103 mi) from the city of Antalya. On the southern coast of Turkey, the district (which includes the city and its built-up area) has an area of 1,598.51 km2 and (2010 Census) 248,286 inhabitants (city 98,627). The population is almost entirely of Turkish origin, but is home to around 10,000 European residents.
Because of its natural strategic position on a small peninsula into the Mediterranean Sea below the Taurus Mountains, Alanya has been a local stronghold for many Mediterranean-based empires, including the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. Alanya's greatest political importance came in the Middle Ages, with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm under the rule of Alaeddin Kayqubad I, from whom the city derives its name. His building campaign resulted in many of the city's landmarks, such as the Kızıl Kule (Red Tower), Tersane (Shipyard), and Alanya Castle.
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Americas
The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World.
In the English language, the Americas refers to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, whereas America, in current usage, usually refers to the United States of America.
The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.4% of its land area) and contain about 13.5% of the human population (about 900 million people).
The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. The traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska around 40,000–17,000 years ago, when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. Another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age.
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Anatolia
Coordinates: 39°N 32°E / 39°N 32°E / 39; 32
Anatolia (from Greek Ἀνατολή Anatolē — "east" or "(sun)rise"; also Asia Minor, from Greek: Μικρὰ Ἀσία Mikrá Asía "small Asia"; in modern Turkish: Anadolu) is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Iskenderun and the Black Sea, approximately corresponding to the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. However, since Anatolia is now often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, its eastern and southeastern borders are widely taken to be the Turkish borders with the neighboring countries, which are Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, in clockwise direction.
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Ankara
Ankara (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈan.ka.ɾa]; historically known as Angora) is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of 938 metres (3,077 ft), and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million.
Centrally located in Anatolia, Ankara is an important commercial and industrial city. It is the center of the Turkish Government, and houses all foreign embassies. It is an important crossroads of trade, strategically located at the centre of Turkey's highway and railway networks, and serves as the marketing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The city was famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its prized wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), Angora rabbits and their prized wool (Angora wool), pears, honey, and the region's muscat grapes.
The historical center of Ankara is situated upon a rocky hill, which rises 150 m (492 ft) above the plain on the left bank of the Ankara Çayı, a tributary of the Sakarya (Sangarius) river. The city is located at 39°52'30" North, 32°52' East (39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333Coordinates: 39°52′30″N 32°50′00″E / 39.875°N 32.8333°E / 39.875; 32.8333), about 450 km (280 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul, the country's largest city. Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, which is 72 m2 per head.
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Antalya
Antalya (Turkish pronunciation: [anˈtalja]; from Ancient Greek: Aττάλεια, "Attalia") is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. It was the world's third most visited city by number of international arrivals in 2011, displacing New York, and had a population of 1,001,318. Antalya is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.
It is uncertain when the site of the current city was first inhabited. Attalos II, king of Pergamon, was believed to have founded the city around 150 BC, naming it Attalia and selecting it as a naval base for his powerful fleet. However, excavations in 2008 in the Doğu Garajı district of Antalya have uncovered remains dating to the 3rd century BC, suggesting that the city was founded earlier than previously supposed. Antalya became part of the Roman Republic in 133 BC when King Attalos III of Pergamon willed his kingdom to Rome at his death. The city grew and prospered during the Ancient Roman period.
Christianity started to spread in the region after 2nd century. Antalya was visited by Paul of Tarsus, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles: "From Perga, Paul and Barnabas went down to Attalia and sailed from there to Antioch after preaching in Pisidia and Pamphylia" (Acts 14:25-26).
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Antalya province
Antalya Province (Turkish: Antalya ili) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean sea.
Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visiting Turkey. The province of Antalya corresponds to the lands of ancient Pamphylia to the east and Lycia to the west. It features a shoreline of 657 km (408 mi) with beaches, ports, and ancient cities scattered throughout, including the World Heritage Site Xanthos. The provincial capital is Antalya city with a population of 1,001,318.
Antalya is the fastest-growing province in Turkey; with a 4.17% yearly population growth rate between years 1990-2000, compared with the national rate of 1.83%. This growth is due to a fast rate of urbanization, particularly driven by tourism and other service sectors on the coast.
The city and thus the province are named after Attalos II, king of Pergamon, who founded the city in the 2nd century BC.
Antalya has been settled since pre-historic times. Evidence of human habitation dating back to the early Paleolithic age (150,000-200,000) years has been discovered in the Karain caves, 30 km (19 mi) of the north of Antalya city. Other finds dating back to the Mesolithic (Beldibi caves), Neolithic (Bademağacı Höyüğü) and more recent periods show that the area has been populated by various civilizations throughout the ages.
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Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it as one of the mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean.
Almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America, the Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year (and almost completely in winter). The Arctic Ocean's temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans, due to low evaporation, heavy freshwater inflow from rivers and streams, and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities. The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years.
wn.com/Arctic_Ocean -
Armenia
Armenia
i/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
wn.com/Armenia -
Armenian Highland
The Armenian Highland (for names in other languages see below; also known as the Armenian Upland, Armenian plateau, Armenian tableland, simply Armenia) is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet (910 m). In Armenia, the average height rises dramatically from 3,000 feet (910 m) to 7,000 feet (2,100 m). To its southeast is the Iranian plateau, where the elevation drops rapidly to an average 2,000 feet (610 m) to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) feet above sea level.
When the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established. It is claimed that in its attempts to Turkify the geographical and settlement names in Turkey, the authorities of the republic began a systematic campaign to alter non-Turkish placenames. These attempts included the name change of the geographical expression of "Armenia" or "Armenian plateau" to "Eastern Anatolia." However, as can be seen in Turkish sources, the names Armenian plateau (Ermenistan Platosu) or Armenian Highland (Ermenistan Yaylası) are used to define the plateau. The term "Eastern Anatolia Region" is designated for the region and is mainly used for statistical purposes, while geographic expression Armenian plateau is continued to be used in contemporary Turkish sources.
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Asia Minor
Asia Minor (from Greek: Μικρὰ Ἀσία, Mikrá Asía, small Asia) is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. It is a peninsula bounded by the Black Sea to the north, Georgia to the north-east, the Armenian Highland to the east, Mesopotamia to the south-east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west.
From the neolithic age Asia Minor was the route of the forward-Asiatic cultural stream which moved from the Near East to the west and spread the agriculture to the east coasts of Greece and Crete during the 5th millennium BC and then to the Balkan region and the whole of Europe. Later the use of bronze-working was transmitted through the Anatolian primary-cultures. The Hittites smelted rather brittle iron from the 15th century BC and the new metal was introduced in Greece. During the 20th century BC the Indo-European Hittites entered the region and gradually established a great empire which was destroyed by invaders in the 12th century. Greek-speaking populations moved to the west coasts and established cities up to the Black Sea. In the 6th century BC the kingdom of Lydia almost expanded to the whole of Asia Minor, until it became a satrapy of the Persian Empire. After the end of the Greek-Persian wars the cities on the coasts became part of the Delian League, which was, however, later dissolved. In the 4th century BC Alexander the Great conquered the peninsula, defeating the Persians. Following his death and the organisational deterioration of his empire, Asia Minor was ruled by a series of Hellenistic kingdoms which came under Roman control two hundred years later. The Kingdom of Pontus was independent from the 3rd century BC, until the middle of the 1st century BC.
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Assos
Assos (Greek: Άσσος), also known as Behramkale or for short Behram, is a small historically rich town in the Ayvacık district of the Çanakkale Province, Turkey.
After leaving the Platonic Academy in Athens, Aristotle (joined by Xenocrates) went to Assos, where he was welcomed by King Hermias, and opened an Academy in this city. Aristotle also married Pythias, the adopted daughter of Hermias. In the Academy of Assos, Aristotle became a chief to a group of philosophers, and together with them, he made innovative observations on zoology and biology. When the Persians attacked Assos, King Hermias was caught and put to death. Aristotle fled to Macedonia, which was ruled by his friend King Philip II of Macedon. There, he tutored Philip's son, Alexander the Great.
Assos was also visited by St. Paul. Today, Assos is an Aegean-coast seaside retreat amid ancient ruins.
Though officially named Behramkale (pronounced [behˈramkale]), most people still call the town by its ancient name of Assos. The town is on the southern side of Biga Peninsula, better known by its ancient name, Troad. The town is located on the coast of the Adramyttian Gulf (Turkish: Edremit Körfezi).
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Assyrian Empire
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the late 25th or early–24th century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia (present day northern Iraq), that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: 𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu; Aramaic: אתור Aṯur; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr; Arabic: آشور Āšūr). Assyria was also sometimes known as Subartu, and after its fall, from 605 BC through to the late seventh century AD variously as Athura, Syria (Greek), Assyria (Latin) and Assuristan. The term Assyria can also refer to the geographic region or heartland where Assyria, its empires and the Assyrian people were centred. The modern Assyrian Christian minority in northern Iraq, north east Syria, south east Turkey and north west Iran are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians (see Assyrian continuity).
Assyria evolved originally as a minor Akkadian kingdom. From the late 24th Century BC Assyrian kings would certainly have been regional leaders only, and subject to Sargon of Akkad who united all the Akkadian speaking peoples of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire which lasted from 2334 BC to 2154 BC. After the fall of the Akkadian Empire circa 2154 BC, and the succeeding Sumerian 3rd Dynasty of Ur, Mesopotamia eventually coalesced into just two separate nations; Assyria in the north, and some century and a half later, Babylonia in the south.
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Attalid dynasty
The Attalid dynasty was a Hellenistic dynasty that ruled the city of Pergamon after the death of Lysimachus, a general of Alexander the Great. The Attalid kingdom was the rump state left after the collapse of the Lysimachian Empire. One of Lysimachus' officers, Philetaerus, took control of the city in 282 BC. The later Attalids were descended from his father, and they expanded the city into a kingdom. Attalus I proclaimed himself King in the 230s BC, following his victories over the Galatians. The Attalids ruled Pergamon until Attalus III bequeathed the kingdom to the Roman Republic in 133 BC to avoid a likely succession crisis.
On the interior of the Pergamon Altar is a frieze depicting the life of Telephus, son of Herakles, whom the ruling Attalid dynasty associated with its city and utilized to claim descendance from the Olympians. Pergamon, having entered the Greek world much later than its counterparts to the west, could not boast the same divine heritage as older city-states, and retroactively had to cultivate its place in Greek mythos.
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Aydın Province
Aydın Province (Turkish: Aydın ili) is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of approx. 150,000 (2000). Other towns in the province include the summer seaside resorts of Didim and Kuşadası.
Aydın was founded by the ancient Thracians and was once known as Tralles. The area is an earthquake zone and the city was built and rebuilt by a succession of Spartans, Phrygians, Ionians, Lydians, Persians and Ancient Romans. In 1186 the Seljuk Turks took control of the area, followed by the Anatolian beylik of the Aydinids. During this period the town was named Aydın Güzelhisar, and was brought into the Ottoman Empire in 1426.
Neighboring provinces are Manisa to the north east, İzmir to the north, Denizli to the east, Muğla to the south.
The central and western parts of the province are fertile plains watered by the largest river in the Aegean region the Büyük Menderes River, with the Aydın Mountains to the north and the Menteşe Mountains to the south. The western end of the province is the Aegean coast with Lake Bafa a major feature of the Menderes delta area. The climate is typical of the Aegean region, very hot in summer. The Germencik region contains a number of hot springs.
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Ayvalık
Ayvalık (pronounced [ˈajvaɫɯk]) is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey. It is a district of the Balıkesir Province.
It was alternatively called (Κυδωνίες - Kidonies) by the town's formerly indigenous Greek population, although the use of the name Ayvalık was widespread for centuries among both the Turks and the Greeks (pronounced as Ayvali by the latter).
ayvalik
Ayvalık is a district in Turkey's Balıkesir Province on the Aegean Sea coast, facing the Greek island of Lesbos. It is situated on a narrow coastal plain surrounded by low hills to the east which are covered with pine and olive trees. Ayvalık is also surrounded by the archipelago of the Ayvalık Islands on the sea and by a narrow peninsula in the south named the Hakkıbey Peninsula. Ayvalık is the southernmost district of Balıkesir. Gömeç, Burhaniye and Edremit are other districts of the Balıkesir Province which are situated on the Aegean shores and they are lined up respectively to the north. The region is under the influence of a typical Mediterranean climate with mild and rainy winters and hot, dry summers.
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Balıkesir Province
Balıkesir Province (Turkish: Balıkesir ili) is a province in midwestern Turkey, having coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean. Its adjacent provinces are Çanakkale to the west, İzmir to the southwest, Manisa to the south, Kütahya to the southeast, and Bursa to the east. The provincial capital is Balıkesir City. Most of the province lies in the Marmara Region except the southern parts of Bigadiç Edremit, Kepsut, İvrindi, Savaştepe and Sındırgı districts and ones of Ayvalık, Burhaniye, Dursunbey, Gömeç and Havran, that bound the Aegean Region.
Kaz Dağı (pronounced [kaz daːɯ]), known also as Mount Ida, is located in this province.
Balıkesir province is famous for its olives, thermal spas, and clean beaches, making it an important tourist destination. The province also hosts immense deposits of kaolinite and borax, with some open-pit mines. The Kaz mountains are also threatened with the expansion of gold mining using cyanide which puts the villagers' lives, the agricultural economy, and tourism at risk.
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Battle of Issus
Coordinates: 36°50′16″N 36°12′40″E / 36.837894°N 36.211109°E / 36.837894; 36.211109
The Battle of Issus occurred in southern Anatolia, in November 333 BC. The invading troops, led by the young Alexander of Macedonia, defeated the army personally led by Darius III of Achaemenid Persia in the second great battle for primacy in Asia. After Alexander's forces successfully forced a crossing of the Hellespont (the Dardanelles) and defeated the Persian satraps led by a Greek mercenary, Memnon of Rhodes, in a prior encounter, the Battle of the Granicus, Darius took personal charge of his army, gathered a large army from the depths of the empire, and maneuvered to cut the Macedonian line of supply, requiring Alexander to countermarch his forces, setting the stage for the battle near the mouth of the Pinarus River and south of the town of Issus.
Eventual accounts tell of bodies piled within the waters high enough to dam its flow, and the river running red with blood. So while Alexander is known to have repeatedly emphasized the importance of maintaining contact with the beach to his sub-commander on the left (seaward) flank, it is safe to assume a lot of action that day along all the water course in its 2.5 km travel through the narrow and hilly coastal plain that prevented the Persians, with their greater numbers, from outflanking the attacking Greeks.
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Battle of Manzikert
The Battle of Manzikert (Modern Turkish: Malazgirt Meydan Savaşı; Classical Armenian: Մամազկերտ – Manazkert, City of Manaz) was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and the capture of the Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes played an important role in undermining Byzantine authority in Anatolia and Armenia, and allowed for the gradual Turkification of Anatolia.
The brunt of the battle was borne by the professional soldiers from the eastern and western tagmata, as large numbers of the mercenaries and Anatolian levies fled early and survived the battle. The fallout from Manzikert was disastrous for the Byzantines, resulting in civil conflicts and an economic crisis that severely weakened the Byzantine Empire's ability to adequately defend its borders. This led to the mass movement of Turks into central Anatolia; by 1080 an area of 30,000 square miles (78,000 km2) had been gained by the Seljuk Turks. It took three decades of internal strife before Alexios I Komnenos (1081 to 1118) restored stability to the Byzantines. Historian Thomas Asbridge says: "In 1071, the Seljuqs crushed an imperial army at the Battle of Manzikert (in eastern Asia Minor), and though historians no longer consider this to have been an utterly cataclysmic reversal for the Greeks, it still was a stinging setback."
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Bodrum
Bodrum (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈbodɾum]) is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The city was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Bodrum Castle, built by the Crusaders in the 15th century, overlooks the harbour and the marina. The castle grounds include a Museum of Underwater Archeology and hosts several cultural festivals throughout the year.
The city had a population of 118,237 in 2009.
The region includes the municipalities of Bodrum, Turgutreis, Ortakent, Türkbükü, Yalıkavak, Gümüşlük, Bitez, Konacık, Yalı and Mumcular; with many tourist-oriented developments being constructed across the district area.
The name Bodrum derives from Petronium, named from the Hospitaller Castle of St. Peter (see history). The site was formerly known as Halicarnassus (Ancient Greek: Ἁλικαρνασσός,Turkish: Halikarnas.) In Turkish, the word bodrum or bodrum katı also refers to a basement floor.
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Bosphorus
The Bosphorus (/ˈbɒsfərəs/) or Bosporus (/ˈbɒspərəs/, Turkish: Boğaziçi, Greek: Βόσπορος, Vosporos, Bulgarian: Босфора, Bosfora), also known as the Istanbul Strait (Turkish: İstanbul Boğazı), is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It—along with the Dardanelles—is one of two straits in Turkey. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea.)
Bosphorus' limits are defined as the connecting line between the lighthouses Rumeli Feneri and Anadolu Feneri in the north and between the Ahırkapı Feneri and the Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri in the south. The strait is between the limits 31 km (17 nmi) long, with a width of 3,329 m (1.798 nmi) at the northern entrance and 2,826 m (1.526 nmi) at the southern entrance. Its maximum width is 3,420 m (1.85 nmi) between Umuryeri and Büyükdere Limanı, and minimum width 700 m (0.38 nmi) between Kandilli Point and Aşiyan. A 45-degree course alteration is required for the ships at this point. The current can reach 7–8 knots at this point. It is a highly dangerous point for ship navigation. At Yenikoy, the necessary course alteration is 80 degrees. All the dangers and obstacles characteristic of narrow waterways are present and acute in this critical sea lane. At the above mentioned turns (Kandilli and Yenikoy) where significant course alterations have to be made, the rear and forward sights are totally blocked prior to and during the course alteration. The ships approaching from the opposite direction cannot be seen round these bends. There is also very heavy ferry traffic in the Strait of Istanbul, which crosses between European and Asiatic sides of the city.
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Bursa
Bursa (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈbuɾsa]) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the seat of Bursa Province. The metropolitan area in the entire Bursa province had a population of 2.6 million as of 2010, making the city the fourth most populous in Turkey. The city is equally one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the country.
Bursa was the capital of the Ottoman State between 1326 and 1365. The city was referred to as "Hüdavendigar" (meaning "God's Gift") during the Ottoman period, while a more recent nickname is "Yeşil Bursa" (meaning "Green Bursa") in reference to the parks and gardens located across its urban tissue, as well as to the vast forests in rich variety that extend in the surrounding region. The city is synonymous with Mount Uludağ which towers behind its core and which is also a famous ski resort. The mausoleums of the early Ottoman sultans are located in Bursa and the numerous edifices built throughout the Ottoman period constitute the city's main landmarks. The surrounding fertile plain, its thermal baths, several interesting museums, notably a rich museum of archaeology, and a rather orderly urban growth are further principal elements that complete Bursa's overall picture.
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Cappadocia
Cappadocia (
/kæpəˈdoʊʃə/; also Capadocia; Turkish Kapadokya, from Greek: Καππαδοκία / Kappadokía, Persian: کاپادوکیه Kāpādōkiyeh) is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.
In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea). Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of the Taurus Mountains that separate it from Cilicia, to the east by the upper Euphrates and the Armenian Highland, to the north by Pontus, and to the west by Lycaonia and eastern Galatia.
The name was traditionally used in Christian sources throughout history and is still widely used as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys and a unique historical and cultural heritage. The term, as used in tourism, roughly corresponds to present-day Nevşehir Province. In pre-Hellenistic times, Persians, Assyrians, Greeks and Hittites all lived in Cappodocia. All of these groups were Hellenised in the era of the Greek city-states. In the Middle Ages, Turkish tribes arrived. These Turks are the majority ethnic group in Cappadocia today.
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Caribbean
The Caribbean (pronounced /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ or /kəˈrɪbiən/) is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north. From the peninsula of Florida on the mainland of the United States, the islands stretch 1,200 miles (1,900 km) southeastward, then 500 miles (800 km) south, then west along the north coast of Venezuela on the South American mainland.
Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea.
The Caribbean islands are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which consists of the Greater Antilles on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), as well as the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands (the Lucayan Archipelago, which does not border the Caribbean Sea). Due to its proximity to the equator, the sun rises from 3am EST to 5am EST.[citation needed]
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Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia (for endonyms, see below), is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europe's highest mountain, Mt. Elbrus. Politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts.
The northern portion of the Caucasus is known as the Ciscaucasus and the southern portion as the Transcaucasus.
The Ciscaucasus contains the larger majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range, also known as the Major Caucasus mountains. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. All of Armenia, Azerbaijan (excluding the northern parts) and Georgia (excluding the northern parts) are in South Caucasus.
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Constantinople
Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis; Ottoman Turkish: قسطنطینیه, Qostantiniyye; and modern Turkish: İstanbul) was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empires. It was founded in AD 330, at ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine I, after whom it was named. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages, and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire, which was eventually reduced to the city and its environs.
Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. An inner wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a triple wall of fortifications, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Bosporus, and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes and towers. The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.
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Dardanelles
Coordinates: 40°12′N 26°24′E / 40.2°N 26.4°E / 40.2; 26.4
The Dardanelles (
/dɑrdəˈnɛlz/; Turkish: Çanakkale Boğazı, Greek: Δαρδανέλλια, Dardanellia), formerly known as Hellespont ( /ˈhɛlɨspɒnt/; Ancient Greek: Ἑλλήσποντος, Hellespontos, literally "Sea of Helle"), is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately 40°13′N 26°26′E / 40.217°N 26.433°E / 40.217; 26.433. The strait is 61 kilometres (38 mi) long but only 1.2 to 6 kilometres (0.75 to 3.7 mi) wide, averaging 55 metres (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 103 metres (338 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent.
Like the Bosphorus, it separates Europe (the Gallipoli peninsula) from the mainland of Asia. The strait is an international waterway, and together with the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
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Datça Peninsula
The Datça Peninsula is an 80 km-long, narrow peninsula in southwest Turkey separating the Gulf of Gökova to the north from the Gulf of Hisarönü to the south. The peninsula corresponds almost exactly to the administrative district of Datça, part of Muğla Province. The town of Datça is located at its half-way point.
In the early 20th century, it was called the Reşadiye Peninsula; other names include the Dorian or Cnidos Peninsula or the Chersonisos Cnidia.
The eastern half of the peninsula is bare, mountainous and scarcely inhabited. In the middle of the peninsula, centered around the town of Datça, is the peninsula's largest area of good land, extending towards the southwest of its median isthmus dividing the two halves of the land mass. The western part is also mountainous, rising in places over 1,000 meters, but has towards its western end on the south side a considerable extent of well-watered land reaching to the coast at Palamutbükü locality and supporting a group of villages known collectively as Betçe (the five villages).
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Didim
Didim, home of the antique city of Didyma with its ruined Temple of Apollo, is a small town, popular seaside holiday resort and district of Aydın Province on the Aegean coast of western Turkey, 123 km (76 mi) from the city of Aydın.
Didim is located on the north shore of the gulf of Güllük opposite the Bodrum peninsula villages such as Torba, Türkbükü and Yalıkavak. The district consists of Didim itself, a coastal town of 26,000 people and a number of small towns including Altınkum (which means golden sand), Gümüşkum (silver sand) and Sarıkum (yellow sand).
Tourism is the main source of income for the area, especially in summer, but agriculture is also an important contributor, the main crops are wheat and cotton. Animals, especially sheep and goats, are raised mainly for local consumption.
Altinkum Didim Emlak-West
Yalıköy - West
Mavişehir - West
Mersindere - West
Cumhuriyet - Central
Efeler - Central
Yenimahalle - Central
Çamlık - South - 3'rd beach, main beach and D-Marin Didim (new marina)
Altınkum - South - main beach and 2'nd beach
Fevzipaşa - south - where the new Golf Course is planned
Yeşilkent - South/East
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Didyma
Didyma (Greek: Δίδυμα) was an ancient Ionian sanctuary, the modern Didim, Turkey, containing a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. In Greek didyma means "twin", but the Greeks who sought a "twin" at Didyma ignored the Carian origin of the name. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, first mentioned among the Greeks in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, but an establishment preceding literacy and even the Hellenic colonization of Ionia. Mythic genealogies of the origins of the Branchidae line of priests, designed to capture the origins of Didyma as a Hellenic tradition, date to the Hellenistic period.
Didyma was the largest and most significant sanctuary on the territory of the great classical city Miletus. To approach it, visitors would follow the Sacred Way to Didyma, about 17 km long. Along the way, were ritual waystations, and statues of members of the Branchidae family, male and female, as well as animal figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century BC are now in the British Museum, taken by Charles Newton in the 19th century.
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East Thrace
Coordinates: 41°9′13″N 27°22′0″E / 41.15361°N 27.366667°E / 41.15361; 27.366667
East Thrace or Eastern Thrace (Turkish: Doğu Trakya or simply Trakya; Bulgarian: Източна Тракия, Iztochna Trakiya; Greek: Ανατολική Θράκη, Anatoliki Thraki), also known as Turkish Thrace, is the part of the modern republic of Turkey that is geographically part of Europe, all in the eastern part of the historical region of Thrace; most of Turkey is in Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor. Turkish Thrace is also called European Turkey. This area includes the historic centre of old İstanbul (medieval Constantinople), as well as such cities as Edirne (the historical capital of the Ottoman vilayet that comprised all Thrace), Tekirdağ, Çorlu, Lüleburgaz and Kırklareli.
East Thrace, which is also known as European Turkey, holds about 12 percent of the population and has an area of 23,764 km2 (3 percent of the country). Asiatic Turkey, called Anatolia or Asia Minor, has an area of 755,688 km2 (97 percent of the country). The two are separated by the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara and Straits of the Bosphorus, a route of about 361 km. The European portion is bordered on the west by Greece for 212 km and on the north by Bulgaria for 269 km.
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Ephesus
Ephesus (/ˈɛfəsəs/);Ancient Greek Ἔφεσος, Ephesos; Turkish Efes) was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. In the Roman period, Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world.
The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Following the Edict of Thessalonica from emperor Theodosius I, the temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom. The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes).
Ephesus was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th century Christian Councils, see Council of Ephesus. It is also the site of a large gladiators' graveyard.
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Gelibolu Peninsula
Coordinates: 40°22′2″N 26°27′18″E / 40.36722°N 26.455°E / 40.36722; 26.455
The Gallipoli peninsula (English /ɡəˈlɪpɵli/; Turkish: Gelibolu Yarımadası; Greek: Καλλίπολη) is located in Turkish Thrace (or East Thrace), the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" (Kallipolis), meaning "Beautiful City". In antiquity, it was known as the Thracian Chersonese (Latin: Chersonesus Thracica, Greek: Θρακική Χερσόνησος).
After the devastating 1354 earthquake, the Greek city of Gallipoli was almost abandoned, but swiftly reoccupied by Turks from Anatolia, the Asiatic side of the straits, making Gallipoli the first Ottoman position in Europe, and the staging area for their expansion across the Balkans.
The peninsula, a part of the Byzantine Empire, was gradually conquered by the Ottoman Empire from 13th century to the 15th century. The Greeks living there were allowed to continue their everyday life. In the 19th century, Gallipoli (Turkish: Gelibolu) was a district (kaymakamlik) in the Vilayet of Adrianople, with about thirty thousand inhabitants: comprising Greeks, Turks, Armenians and Jews.
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Georgia (country)
Georgiai/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.
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Gulf of Iskenderun
The Gulf of İskenderun (Turkish: İskenderun Körfezi, by the Romans called Mare Issicus) is a gulf or inlet of the Levantine Sea, the easternmost part of Mediterranean Sea, of which it forms the easternmost tip, on the southern coast of Turkey near its border with Syria. It also contains the northernmost point of the Levantine Sea. The gulf's eastern coast forms part of the Turkish province of Hatay, where the city of İskenderun (formerly known as Alexandretta) is located, while its northern coast forms part of the province of Adana.
The eastern and southern coasts of the gulf had been shaped by the Nur Mountains (Turkish: Nur Dağları, literally "Mountains of Holy Light"), Amanus or Gâvur Mountains. On the western coastline lies the ancient Greek and modern city of Tarsus whose name is still officially used, and on the eastern coastline lied the ancient Greek cities of Issus and Alexandretta known today as İskenderun which is located near the gulf's southern coast. On the northern coastline lies the historical region of Cilicia.
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Hacilar
Hacilar is an early human settlement in southwestern Turkey, 25 km southwest of present day Burdur. It has been dated back 7040 BC at its earliest stage of development. Archaeological remains indicate that the site was abandoned and reoccupied on more than one occasion in its history.
Hacilar lived and died in prehistory. What remained of Hacilar became a mound on the plain and remained so until 1956. It was in this year that a local teacher showed the mound to British archaeologist James Mellaart. In 1957 the excavation of Hacilar began under Mellaart's direction and continued until 1960. The artifacts recovered during this excavation are currently on display at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
Housing in Hacilar consisted of grouped units surrounding an inner courtyard. Each dwelling was built on a foundation of stone to protect against water damage. Walls were made of wood and daub or mud-brick that was mortared with lime. Wooden poles were located within each unit to support a flat roof. It is generally believed that these houses had an upper story made of wood.
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Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus (Ancient Greek: Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός, Halikarnassós or Ἀλικαρνασσός, Alikarnassós; Turkish: Halikarnas) was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was part of the Persian Empire until captured by Alexander the Great at the siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC.
Halicarnassus originally occupied only a small island near to the shore called Zephyria, which was the original name of the settlement and the present site of the great Castle of St. Peter built by the Knights of Rhodes in 1404; but in course of time, the island united with the mainland and the city extended to incorporate Salmacis, an older town of the Leleges and Carians and site of the later citadel.
The founding of Halicarnassus is debated among various traditions; but they agree in the main point as to its being a Dorian colony, and the figures on its coins, such as the head of Medusa, Athena or Poseidon, or the trident, support the statement that the mother cities were Troezen and Argos. The inhabitants appear to have accepted Anthes, a son of Poseidon, as their legendary founder, as mentioned by Strabo, and were proud of the title of Antheadae. The Carian name for Halicarnassus has been tentatively identified with Alosδkarnosδ in inscriptions.
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Hierapolis
Hierapolis (Greek: Ἱεράπολις 'sacred city') was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Phrygia located on hot springs in southwest Anatolia. Its ruins are adjacent to modern Pamukkale, Turkey.
Hierapolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The hot springs there have been used as a spa since the 2nd century BCE, and people came to soothe their ailments, with many of them retiring or dying here. The large necropolis is filled with sarcophagi, including the Sarcophagus of Marcus Aurelius Ammianos.
The great baths were constructed with huge stone blocks without the use of cement, and consisted of various closed or open sections linked together. There are deep niches in the inner section of the bath, library, gymnasium and other closed or open locations. The complex, which was constructed in the 2nd century BCE, constitutes a good example of vault type architecture. The complex is now an archaeological museum.
Hierapolis is located adjacent to Pamukkale.
There are only a few historical facts known about the origin of the city. No traces of the presence of Hittites or Persians have been found. The Phrygians built a temple (a hieron) probably in the first half of the 3rd century BCE. This temple would later form the centre of Hierapolis. It was already used by the citizens of the nearby town Laodiceia, a city built by Antiochus II Theos in 261-253 BCE.
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Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula (or, more generally, by southern and western Asia); on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, by Antarctica). The ocean is named after the geographic location of India.
As one component of the interconnected global ocean, the Indian Ocean is delineated from the Atlantic Ocean by the 20° east meridian running south from Cape Agulhas, and from the Pacific by the meridian of 146°55' east. The northernmost extent of the Indian Ocean is approximately 30° north in the Persian Gulf. This ocean is nearly 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) wide at the southern tips of Africa and Australia; its area is 73,556,000 square kilometres (28,350,000 sq mi), including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Istanbul
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.
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İzmir Province
İzmir Province (Turkish: İzmir ili) is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of İzmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.2, population 3.948.848 (2010 tüik census). The population was 3,370,866 in 2000. Neighbouring provinces are Balıkesir on the north, Manisa on the east, and Aydın on the south. The traffic code of the province is 35.
The main rivers of the province are Küçük Menderes river, Koca Çay (with Güzelhisar dam), and Bakır Çay.
İzmir Province is divided into 30 districts (metro districts are bold):
Of these, Balçova, Bayraklı, Bornova, Buca, Çiğli, Gaziemir, Güzelbahçe, Karabağlar, Karşıyaka, Konak, and Narlıdere are core districts, making up the city of İzmir.
The area was first settled by local Anatolians, milleninum later Ionians in about the 11th century BC who established the League of Ionia. It was later conquered by the Persians, retaken by the Greeks, before being subsumed into the Roman Empire. After the split of the Roman Empire, the area became part of what is now called the Byzantine Empire until conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century. Following the First World War the province was ceded to Greece, but was retaken by the forces of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Turkish War of Independence. As a result of the Treaty of Lausanne all Greek Orthodox inhabitants of the province had to leave, and İzmir Province was incorporated into the modern republic of Turkey.
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İzmit
İzmit (Greek: Νικομήδεια, Nicomedia) is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit (the ancient Gulf of Astacus) in the Sea of Marmara, about 100 km (62 mi) east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 293,339 (2010 census). The population of the province (including rural areas) is 1,459,772 (Unlike other provinces in Turkey apart from Istanbul, the whole province is now included within the municipality of the metropolitan center.)
Nicomedia was the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire between 286 and 324, during the Tetrarchy introduced by Diocletian. Following Constantine's victory over co-emperor Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar) in 324, Nicomedia served as an interim capital city for Constantine the Great between 324 and 330, until the nearby Byzantium was officially declared Nova Roma (later known as Constantinople, present-day Istanbul).
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Kaunos
Kaunos (Carian: Kbid;Lycian: Khbide;Ancient Greek: Καῦνος; Latin: Caunus) was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few km west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey.
The Calbys river (now known as the Dalyan river) was the border between Caria and Lycia. Initially Kaunos was a separate state; then it became a part of Caria and later still of Lycia.
Kaunos was an important sea port, the history of which is supposed to date back till the 10th century BC. Because of the formation of İztuzu Beach and the silting of the former Bay of Dalyan (from approx. 200 BC onwards) Kaunos is now located about 8 km from the coast. The city had two ports, the southern port at the southeast of Küçük Kale and the inner port at its northwest (the present Sülüklü Göl, the Lake of the Leeches). The southern port was used from the foundation of the city till roughly the end of the Hellenistic era, after which it became inaccessible due to its drying out. The inner or trade port could be closed by chains. The latter was used till the late days of Kaunos , but due to the silting of the delta and the ports, Kaunos had by then long lost its important function as a trade port. After Caria had been captured by Turkish tribes and the serious malaria epidemic of the 15th century AD, Kaunos was completely abandoned.
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Kayseri
Kayseri (pronounced [kajˈseɾi]) is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and Melikgazi, and since 2004, also Hacılar, İncesu and Talas. In conjunction with the addition of new districts and first stage municipalities into the metropolitan area, the city's population, which was 690,000 in 2000, was over 1,050,000 as of 2010, making it the seventh most populous city in Turkey.
Kayseri is located at the foot of the extinct volcano Mount Erciyes that towers 3916 m over the city. Its inhabitants (Kayserili) are renowned for their alertness, entrepreneurial spirit and a strict understanding regarding the management of economies, the last point having been the subject of more than a few legends in Turkey.wealth of the city itself is a blend of modernity and conservatism. The city is often cited in the first ranks among Turkey's cities that fit the definition of Anatolian Tigers.
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Kaçkar Mountains
Kaçkar Mountains (Turkish: Kaçkar Dağları) or simply Kaçkars (Turkish: Kaçkarlar) are a mountain range that rises above the Black Sea coast in eastern Turkey.
With highest peak Kaçkar Dağı at an elevation of 3,937 metres (12,917 ft), and mountain plateaus at about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in elevation, it is the highest part of the Pontic Mountains. The Kaçkars are glaciated mountains that are alpine in character, with steep rocky peaks and numerous mountain lakes. The area was declared a national park in 1994. Tourism activities in the park include hiking, camping, mountaineering, and, increasingly, heliskiing.
The name Kaçkar (from Armenian khachkar (Խաչքար) literally meaning "cross stone") may be used in various senses. It may describe the whole mountain range, including the many mountain groups, or it may just describe the Kaçkar-Kavron group with its highest peak, or just the highest peak itself. The local name of the highest peak or its mountain group Kaçkar Dağı translates to Kaçkar Mountain, and the name of the range Kaçkar Dağları translates to Kaçkar Mountains.
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Kemer
Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, 40 km (25 mi) west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera.
Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, 53 km (33 mi) of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mountains behind. The coast has the typical Mediterranean hot, dry weather and warm sea. Until the early 1980s this was a quiet rural district but today the town of Kemer and coastal villages in the district play a very important part in tourism in Turkey.
Kemer was called Eski Köy (Old Village) until in 1916 - 1917, a 23 km (14 mi) long stone wall was built to channel the mountain stream water and protect the town from flooding, which until then had been a persistent problem. The name Kemer refers to those walls.
Until the 1960s there was no road connection and the district was accessible only by boat. Then a road was built and from the 1980s onwards this was followed by a great investment in infrastructure, planned by the state and funded by the World Bank, aimed at developing a large tourist industry.
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Knidos
Coordinates: 36°41′09″N 27°22′30″E / 36.68583°N 27.375°E / 36.68583; 27.375
Knidos or Cnidus ( /ˈnaɪdəs/; Ancient Greek: Κνίδος [knidos]) is an ancient settlement located in Turkey. It was an ancient Greek city of Caria, part of the Dorian Hexapolis. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side of the Sinus Ceramicus, now known as Gulf of Gökova. By the fourth century BC, Knidos was located at the site of modern Tekir, opposite Triopion Island. But earlier, it was probably at the site of modern Datça (at the half-way point of the peninsula).
It was built partly on the mainland and partly on the Island of Triopion or Cape Krio. The debate about it being an island or cape is caused by the fact that in ancient times it was connected to the mainland by a causeway and bridge. Today the connection is formed by a narrow sandy isthmus. By means of the causeway the channel between island and mainland was formed into two harbours, of which the larger, or southern, was further enclosed by two strongly built moles that are still in good part entire.
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Konya
Konya (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈkon.ja]) is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city the seventh most populous in Turkey.
Konya, also spelled in some historic English texts as Konia or Koniah, was known in classical antiquity and during the medieval period as Iconium in Latin, and Ἰκόνιον (Ikónion) in Greek. The name Konya is a cognate of icon, as an ancient Greek legend ascribed its name to the "eikon" (image), or the "gorgon's (Medusa's) head", with which Perseus vanquished the native population before founding the city.
Excavations have shown that the region was inhabited during the Late Copper Age, around 3000 BC. The city came under the influence of the Hittites around 1500 BC. These were overtaken by the Sea Peoples around 1200 BC. The Phrygians established their kingdom in central Anatolia in the 8th century BC. Xenophon describes Iconium, as the city was called, as the last city of Phrygia. The region was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC. It was later part of the Persian Empire, until Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death and the town came under the rule of Seleucus I Nicator. During the Hellenistic period the town was ruled by the kings of Pergamon. As Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, was about to die without an heir, he bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Under the rule of emperor Claudius, the city's name was changed to Claudioconium, and during the rule of emperor Hadrianus to Colonia Aelia Hadriana.
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Kültepe
Coordinates: 38°51′N 35°38′E / 38.85°N 35.633°E / 38.85; 35.633 Kültepe (Turkish: Ash Hill) is a modern village near the ancient city of Kaneš or Kanesh (Hittite: Neša, occasionally Anisa), located in the Kayseri Province of Turkey's Central Anatolia Region. The nearest modern city to Kültepe is Kayseri, about 20 km southwest.
Kaneš, inhabited continuously from the Chalcolithic period to Roman times, flourished as an important Hattic/Hittite/Hurrian city, which contained a large merchant quarter (kârum) of the Old Assyrian kingdom, from ca. 20th to 16th centuries BC. A late (c 1400 BC) witness to an old tradition includes a king of Kaneš called Zipani among seventeen local city-kings who rose up against the Akkadian Naram-Sin (ruled c.2254-2218 BC). It is the site of discovery of the earliest traces of the Hittite language, and the earliest attestation of any Indo-European language, dated to the 20th century BC. The native term for the Hittite language was nešili "language of Neša".
The king of Zalpuwa, Uhna, raided Kanes, after which the Zalpuwans carried off the city's "Sius" idol. Pithana, the king of Kussara, conquered level Ia Neša "in the night, by force", but "did not do evil to anyone in it." Neša revolted against the rule of Pithana's son, Anitta, but Anitta quashed the revolt and made Neša his capital. Anitta further invaded Zalpuwa, captured its king Huzziya, and recovered the Sius idol for Neša.
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Manisa
Manisa (Turkish pronunciation: [maˈnisa]) is a large city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.
Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of İzmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in quantity and variety of agricultural production. In fact, İzmir's proximity also adds a particular dimension to all aspects of life's pace in Manisa in the form of a dense traffic of daily commuters between the two cities, separated as they are by a half-hour drive served by a fine six-lane highway nevertheless requiring attention at all times due to its curves and the rapid ascent (sea-level to more than 500 meters at Sabuncubeli Pass) across Mount Sipylus's mythic scenery.
The historic part of Manisa spreads out from a forested valley in the immediate slopes of Sipylus mountainside, along Çaybaşı Stream which flows next to Niobe's "Weeping Rock" ("Ağlayan Kaya"), an ancient bridge called the "Red Bridge" ("Kırmızı Köprü") as well as to several tombs-shrines in the Turkish style dating back to the Saruhan period (14th century). Under Ottoman rule in the centuries that followed, the city had already extended into the undulated terrain at the start of the plain. In the last couple of decades, Manisa's width more than tripled in size across its vast plain formed by the alluvial deposits of the River Gediz, a development in which the construction of new block apartments, industrial zones and of Celal Bayar University campus played a key role.
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Marmara Region
The Marmara Region (Turkish: Marmara Bölgesi), with a surface area of 67.000 km², is the smallest but most densely populated of the seven geographical regions of Turkey. It represents approximately 8.6% of the Turkish national territory and about 30% of its population.
This region was officially put in existence after the Geography Congress of 1941 in Ankara and is geographically divided into four regional parts.
Its name derives from the Sea of Marmara, which itself is named for the island of Marmara.
The Yıldız Mountains and Uludağ are in the Marmara Region. Islands in the Aegean Sea are Gökçeada and Bozcaada, and in the Sea of Marmara are Marmara Island, Avşa, Paşalimanı, İmralı and the Princes Islands of Istanbul.
The Marmara region has a hybrid mediterranean climate/humid subtropical climate on the Aegean Sea coast and the south Marmara Sea coast, an oceanic climate on the Black Sea coast and a humid continental climate in the interior. Summers are warm to hot, humid and moderately dry whereas winters are cold and wet and sometimes snowy.
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Marmaris
Marmaris is a port town and tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, along the shoreline of the Turkish Riviera.
Marmaris' main source of income is tourism. Little is left of the sleepy fishing village that Marmaris was just a few decades ago, after a construction boom in the 1980s. Marmaris still retains its charm due to its exceptional location between two intersecting sets of mountains by the sea. The town's population was 30,957 in 2010 and peaks at around 300,000 to 400,000 people during the tourism season. Marmaris' nightlife rivals anything on the Turkish coast.
It is also a centre for sailing and diving, possessing two major and several smaller marinas. It is a popular wintering location for hundreds of cruising boaters. It is served by the nearby Dalaman Airport.
Marmaris has a Mediterranean climate characterised by a hot and humid summer and cool, rainy winter. Showers and rain are very unlikely between May and October.
Summers are hot and humid, and temperatures can reach over 40°C sometimes during heatwaves in July and August. October is still warm and bright, though with spells of rain, and many tourists prefer to visit in the early autumn, especially in September, because the temperatures are not as hot.
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Medes
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
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Mersin
Mersin (Ancient Greek: Ζεφύριον, Zephyrion) is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Mersin Province had a population of 195,000 (city center) as of 2010, making it Turkey's sixth most populous city. It is also part of an interurban agglomeration – the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area – and lies on the western part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region. According to Evliya Çelebi, the city is named after the Mersinoğullari clan; another theory is that it is made from the myrtle (Greek: μύρτος, μυρσίνη) which grows abundanlty in the region.
Mersin is important for Turkey's economy, and Turkey's largest seaport is located here. Mersin's nickname within Turkey is "Pearl of the Mediterranean" (Turkish: Akdeniz'in İncisi) and the city will host the 2013 Mediterranean Games.
This coast has been inhabited since the 9th millennium BC. Excavations by John Garstang of the hill of Yumuktepe have revealed 23 levels of occupation, the earliest dating from ca. 6300 BC. Fortifications were put up around 4500 BC, but the site appears to have been abandoned between 350 BC and 300 BC.
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Miletus
Miletus (mī lē' təs) (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Milētos; Latin: Miletus) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia (in what is now Aydin Province, Turkey), near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria. Before the Persian invasion in the middle of the 6th century BC, Miletus was considered the greatest and wealthiest of Greek cities.
Evidence of first settlement at the site has been made inaccessible by the rise of sea level and deposition of sediments from the Maeander. The first available evidence is of the Neolithic. In the early and middle Bronze age the settlement came under Minoan influence. Legend has it that an influx of Cretans occurred displacing the indigenous Leleges. The site was renamed Miletus after a place in Crete.
The Late Bronze Age, 13th century BCE, saw the arrival of Luwian language speakers from south central Anatolia calling themselves the Carians. Later in that century the first Greeks arrived. The city at that time rebelled against the Hittite Empire. After the fall of that empire the city was destroyed in the 12th century BCE and starting about 1000 BCE was resettled extensively by the Ionian Greeks. Legend offers an Ionian foundation event sponsored by a founder named Neleus from the Peloponnesus.
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Myra
Myra is an ancient town in Lycia, where the small town of Kale (Demre) is situated today in present day Antalya Province of Turkey. It was located on the river Myros (Demre Çay), in the fertile alluvial plain between Alaca Dağ, the Massikytos range and the Aegean Sea.
Although some scholars equate Myra with the town Mira in Arzawa, there is no proof for the connection. There is no substantiated written reference for Myra before it was listed as a member of the Lycian alliance (168 BC – AD 43); according to Strabo (14:665) it was one of the largest towns of the alliance.
The Greek citizens worshipped Artemis Eleutheria, who was the protective goddess of the town. Zeus, Athena and Tyche were venerated as well.
The ruins of the Lycian and Roman town are mostly covered by alluvial silts. The Acropolis on the Demre-plateau, the Roman theatre and the Roman baths (eski hamam) have been partly excavated. The semi-circular theater was destroyed in an earthquake in 141, but rebuilt afterwards.
There are two necropoli of Lycian rock-cut tombs in the form of temple fronts carved into the vertical faces of cliffs at Myra: the river necropolis and the ocean necropolis. The ocean necropolis is just northwest of the theater. The best known tomb in the river necropolis (located 1.5 km up the Demre Cayi from the theater) is the "Lion's tomb,"also called the "Painted Tomb." When the traveller Charles Fellows saw the tombs in 1840 he found them still colorfully painted red, yellow and blue.
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Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.
At 165.2 million square kilometres (64.1 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).
The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named it Mar del Sur (South Sea). The ocean's current name was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation in 1521, who encountered favourable winds as he reached the ocean and called it Mar Pacifico in Portuguese, meaning "peaceful sea".
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Pamukkale
Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.
The ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about 2,700 metres (8,860 ft) long, 600 m (1,970 ft) wide and 160 m (525 ft) high. It can be seen from the hills on the opposite side of the valley in the town of Denizli, 20 km away.
Tourism is and has been a major industry. People have bathed in its pools for thousands of years. As recently as the mid-20th century, hotels were built over the ruins of Heropolis, causing considerable damage. An approach road was built from the valley over the terraces, and motor bikes were allowed to go up and down the slopes. When the area was declared a World Heritage Site, the hotels were demolished and the road removed and replaced with artificial pools. Wearing shoes in the water is prohibited to protect the deposits.
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Pergamon
Pergamon (Ancient Greek: τὸ Πέργαμον or ἡ Πέργαμος), or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located 16 miles (26 km) from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakırçay), that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Pergamon was cited in the book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia. Today, the main sites of ancient Pergamon are to the north and west of the modern city of Bergama.
The Attalid kingdom was the rump state left after the collapse of the Kingdom of Thrace.
The Attalids, the descendants of Attalus, father of Philetaerus who came to power in 281 BC following the collapse of the Kingdom of Thrace, were among the most loyal supporters of Rome in the Hellenistic world. Under Attalus I (241-197 BC), they allied with Rome against Philip V of Macedon, during the first and second Macedonian Wars, and again under Eumenes II (197-158 BC), against Perseus of Macedon, during the Third Macedonian War. For support against the Seleucids, the Attalids were rewarded with all the former Seleucid domains in Asia Minor.
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Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf is located in Western Asia between Iran (Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula. It is an extension of the Indian Ocean.
The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers. In 1991, the Persian Gulf again was the background for what was called the "Persian Gulf War" or the "Gulf War" when Iraq invaded Kuwait and was subsequently pushed back, despite the fact that this conflict was primarily a land conflict.
The Persian Gulf has many good fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, but its ecology has come under pressure from industrialization, and in particular, oil and petroleum spillages during wars in the region.
Historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf or simply The Gulf by most Arab states, although neither of the latter two terms are recognized internationally. The name Gulf of Iran (Persian Gulf) is used by the International Hydrographic Organization.
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Pontic Alps
The Pontic Mountains form a mountain range in Northern Turkey, also known as the Parhar mountains in the local Turkish and Pontic Greek languages. The term "Parhar" originates from the Hittite word meaning "high" or "summit".
The range runs roughly east-west, parallel and close to the southern coast of the Black Sea and extends eastward to Georgia. The highest peak in the range is Kaçkar Dağı, which rises to 3,937 m (12,917 ft). The North Anatolian Fault and the Northeast Anatolian Fault, which are east-west running strike-slip faults, run along the length of the range.
The mountains are generally covered by dense forests, predominantly of conifers. The Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests is an ecoregion which covers most of the range, while the Caucasus mixed forests extend across the eastern end of the range, known as the Kaçkar Mountains. The region is home to such Eurasian wildlife as the Caucasian Black Grouse, Ring Ouzel, Red-fronted Serin, and Wallcreeper. The narrow coastal strip between the mountains and the Black Sea, known as Pontus, is home to the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests, which contain some of Europe's only temperate rain forests. The Anatolian Plateau, which lies south of the range, has a considerably drier and more continental climate than the humid and mild coast.
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Pontic Mountains
The Pontic Mountains form a mountain range in Northern Turkey, also known as the Parhar mountains in the local Turkish and Pontic Greek languages. The term "Parhar" originates from the Hittite word meaning "high" or "summit".
The range runs roughly east-west, parallel and close to the southern coast of the Black Sea and extends eastward to Georgia. The highest peak in the range is Kaçkar Dağı, which rises to 3,937 m (12,917 ft). The North Anatolian Fault and the Northeast Anatolian Fault, which are east-west running strike-slip faults, run along the length of the range.
The mountains are generally covered by dense forests, predominantly of conifers. The Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests is an ecoregion which covers most of the range, while the Caucasus mixed forests extend across the eastern end of the range, known as the Kaçkar Mountains. The region is home to such Eurasian wildlife as the Caucasian Black Grouse, Ring Ouzel, Red-fronted Serin, and Wallcreeper. The narrow coastal strip between the mountains and the Black Sea, known as Pontus, is home to the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests, which contain some of Europe's only temperate rain forests. The Anatolian Plateau, which lies south of the range, has a considerably drier and more continental climate than the humid and mild coast.
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Republic of Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Sardis
Sardis or Sardes (Lydian: Sfard; Greek: Σάρδεις, Sardeis; Persian: سارد, Sārd) was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart (Sartmahmut before 19 October 2005) in Turkey's Manisa Province. Sardis was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, one of the important cities of the Persian Empire, the seat of a proconsul under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine times. As one of the Seven churches of Asia, it was addressed by the author of the Book of Revelation in terms which seem to imply that its population was notoriously soft and fainthearted. Its importance was due, first to its military strength, secondly to its situation on an important highway leading from the interior to the Aegean coast, and thirdly to its commanding the wide and fertile plain of the Hermus.
Sardis was situated in the middle of Hermus valley, at the foot of Mount Tmolus, a steep and lofty spur which formed the citadel. It was about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of the Hermus. Today, the site is located by the present day village of Sart, near Salihli in the Manisa province of Turkey, close to the Ankara - İzmir highway (approximately 72 kilometres (45 mi) from İzmir). The part of remains including the bath-gymnasium complex, synagogue and Byzantine shops is open to visitors year-round.
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Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara /ˈmɑrmərə/ (Greek: Θάλασσα του Μαρμαρά, Turkish: Marmara Denizi), also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis (Greek: Προποντίς), is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black Sea and the Dardanelles strait to the Aegean. The former also separates Istanbul into its Asian and European sides. The Sea has an area of 11,350 km² (280 km x 80 km) with the greatest depth reaching 1,370 m.
The salinity of the sea averages about 22 parts per thousand, which is slightly greater than that of the Black Sea but only about two-thirds that of most oceans. However, the water is much more saline at the sea-bottom, averaging salinities of around 38 parts per thousand — similar to that of the Mediterranean Sea. This high-density saline water, like that of the Black Sea itself, does not migrate to the surface. Water from the Susurluk, Biga (Granicus) and Gonen Rivers also reduces the salinity of the sea, though with less influence than on the Black Sea. With little land in Thrace draining southward, almost all of these rivers flow from Anatolia.
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Smyrna
Smyrna (Ancient Greek: Σμύρνη or Σμύρνα) was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey. The first site, probably founded indigenously, rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia. The second, whose foundation is associated with Alexander the Great, reached metropolitan proportions during the period of the Roman Empire. Most of the present-day remains date from the Roman era, the majority from after a 2nd century AD earthquake.
In practical terms, a distinction is often made between Old Smyrna, the initial settlement founded around the 11th century BC, first as an Aeolian settlement, and later taken over and developed during the Archaic Period by the Ionians, and Smyrna proper, the new city moved into from the older one as of the 4th century BC and whose foundation was inspired, and perhaps also initiated, by Alexander the Great.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Tigris
The Tigris River (/ˈtaɪɡrɪs/; Arabic: دجله) is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.
The Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. The remaining 1,418 km are entirely within the Iraqi borders.
The Tigris unites with the Euphrates near Basra, and from this junction to the Persian Gulf the mass of moving water is known as the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris.
Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
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Trabzon
Trabzon (Turkish: Trabzon, see other names, Turkish pronunciation: [ˈtrabzon]) is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast. The Venetian and Genoese merchants paid visits to Trebizond during the medieval period and sold silk, linen and woolen fabric; with the Republic of Genoa having an important merchant colony within the city that was similar to Galata near Constantinople (across the Golden Horn) in present-day Istanbul. Trabzon formed the basis of several states in its long history and was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond between 1204 and 1461. During the Ottoman period, Trabzon, because of the importance of its port, became a focal point of trade to Iran and the Caucasus. The population of the center urban is 230,399 (2009 census).
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Troy
Coordinates: 39°57′27″N 26°14′20″E / 39.9575°N 26.23889°E / 39.9575; 26.23889
Troy (Ancient Greek: Ἴλιον, Ilion, and Τροία, Troia; Latin: Trōia and Īlium;Hittite: Wilusa or Truwisa;Turkish: Truva) was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida. It is best known for being the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer. Metrical evidence from the Iliad and the Odyssey seems to show that the name Ἴλιον (Ilion) formerly began with a digamma: Ϝίλιον (Wilion). This was later supported by the Hittite form Wilusa.
A new city called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and declined gradually during the Byzantine era.
In 1865, English archaeologist Frank Calvert excavated trial trenches in a field he had bought from a local farmer at Hisarlık, and in 1868, Heinrich Schliemann, wealthy German businessman and archaeologist, also began excavating in the area after a chance meeting with Calvert in Çanakkale. These excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Schliemann was at first skeptical about the identification of Hissarlik with Troy, but was persuaded by Calvert and took over Calvert's excavations on the eastern half of the Hissarlik site, which was on Calvert's property. Troy VII has been identified with the Hittite Wilusa, the probable origin of the Greek Ἴλιον, and is generally (but not conclusively) identified with Homeric Troy.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Uludağ
Uludağ [uˈɫudaː], the ancient Mysian Olympus, is a mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey, with an altitude of 2,543 m (8,343 ft). It is a popular center for winter sports such as skiing, and a national park of rich flora and fauna. Summer activities, such as trekking and camping, also are popular.
In Turkish, Uludağ means "Sublime Mountain", but in colloquial Turkish, the older name Keşiş Dağı, "Mountain of Monks," is still used. In ancient times the range of which it is a part, extending along the southern edge of Bithynia, was known as Olympos in Greek and Olympus in Latin, the western extremity being known as the Mysian Olympus and the eastern as the Bithynian Olympus, and the city of Bursa was known as Prusa ad Olympum from its position near the mountain. Throughout the Middle Ages, it contained hermitages and monasteries: "The rise of this monastic centre in the 8th c. and its prestige up to the 11th are linked to the resistance of numerous monks to the policy of the iconoclast emperors and then to a latent opposition to the urban, Constantinopolitan monasticism of the Studites.". One of the greatest monks of the Christian East, the wonder-working Byzantine monk Saint Joannicius the Great, lived as a hermit on this mountain.
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Van, Turkey
Van ( Kurdish: Wan Armenian: Վան Van,) is a city in southeastern Turkey's Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. It is the cultural center of the area's Kurdish majority. The city's population is mostly Kurdish. In 2010 the official population figure for Van was 367,419, but many estimates put it much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan Yengun is quoted as saying it may be as high as 600,000.
The Van Central district stretches over 2,289 square kilometers.
Archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in Van province indicate that the history of human settlement in this region goes back at least as far as 5000 BC. The Tilkitepe Mound, which is on the shores of Lake Van and a few kilometres to the south of Van Castle, is the only source of information about the oldest culture of Van.
Under the ancient name of Tushpa, Van was the capital of the Urartian kingdom in the 9th century BC. The early settlement was centered on the steep-sided bluff now known as Van Castle (Van Kalesi), close to the edge of Lake Van and a few kilometers west of the modern city. Here have been found Urartian cuneiform inscriptions dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BC. In the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in the order of Darius the Great of Persia, the country referred to as Urartu in Babylonian is called Armenia in Old Persian.
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Çatalhöyük
Çatalhöyük (Turkish pronunciation: [tʃaˈtaɫhøjyc]; also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük, or any of the three without diacritics; çatal is Turkish for "fork", höyük for "mound") was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500 BCE to 5700 BCE. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date.
Çatalhöyük is located overlooking wheat fields in the Konya Plain, southeast of the present-day city of Konya (ancient Iconium) in Turkey, approximately 140 km (87 mi) from the twin-coned volcano of Mount Hasan. The eastern settlement forms a mound which would have risen about 20 m (66 ft) above the plain at the time of the latest Neolithic occupation. There is also a smaller settlement mound to the west and a Byzantine settlement a few hundred meters to the east. The prehistoric mound settlements were abandoned before the Bronze Age. A channel of the Çarşamba river once flowed between the two mounds, and the settlement was built on alluvial clay which may have been favourable for early agriculture.
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Çukurova
Çukurova (Turkish pronunciation: [tʃukuɾova]), historically known as Cilicia, is a geographic, economic and cultural region in south-central Turkey, covering the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay. With a population of 5.74 million, it is one of the largest population concentrations in Turkey.
Çukurova in Turkish means roughly "Low Plain", çukur for "depression", ova for "plains". The region starts from Anamur at the west, extending east along the Mediterranean, stretching as far north as Tufanbeyli, wrapping around Gulf of İskenderun, turning south at Erzin and finally terminating at Yayladağı on the border of Syria. The core area is Çukurova plain (formerly Cilicia Pedia), covering the area of Mersin on the west, Kozan on the north, Osmaniye on the east and the Mediterranean on the south. Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area is the business and cultural center of Çukurova.
Most of the Çukurova region is a large stretch of flat, fertile land which is among the most agriculturally productive areas of the world. Throughout history, Çukurova was a gateway from Europe to the Middle East and, being the shortest access point to the Mediterranean from the northern Middle East and Central Asia, it is a transportation hub, with its two major seaports and oil terminal.
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Albanians
Albanians (Albanian: Shqiptarët) are an ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. In the context of an ethnicity, they are commonly referred to as ethnic Albanians to distinguish the group from the use of the term Albanians as referring to citizens of Albania. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo. The Albanian diaspora also exists in a number of other countries.
While the exonym Albania for the general region inhabited by the Albanians does hark back to Classical Antiquity, the name was lost within the Albanian language, the Albanian endonym being shqiptar, from the term for the Albanian language, shqip, a derivation of the verb shqiptoj "to utilize a correct Albanian pronunciation ". This theory pertains to Hahn and it holds that perhaps the word is ultimately a loan from Latin excipio. Thus, the Albanian endonym, like Slav and others, is in origin a term for "those who speak [intelligibly, the same language]". However another plausible theory has been advanced by Maximilian Lambertz to explain the endonym as derived from the Albanian noun shqype or shqiponjë (eagle), which, according to Albanian folk etymology, denoted a bird totem dating from the times of Skanderbeg, as displayed on the Albanian flag.
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Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas from the Greek αλέξω alexo "to defend, help" + ανήρ aner "man"), was a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders.
Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip was assassinated. Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
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Arabs
Arab people, also known as Arabs (Arabic: عرب, ʿarab), are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.
The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.
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Arameans
The Arameans, or Aramaeans[pronunciation?] (Aramaic: ארמיא; ʼaramáyé) were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population.
The Arameans never had a unified nation; they were divided into small independent kingdoms across parts of the Near East, particularly in what is now modern Syria. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to a number of Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC.
By contrast, the Aramaic language came to be the lingua franca of the entire Fertile Crescent, by Late Antiquity developing into the literary languages such as Syriac and Mandaic. Scholars even have used the term "Aramaization" for the process by which the Akkadian/Assyro-Babylonian peoples became Aramaic-speaking during the later Iron Age.
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Armenian people
Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.
The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).
Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.
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Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.
The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).
Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.
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Assyrian people
The Assyrian people, most commonly known as Assyrians and other later names, such as: Chaldeans, Syrians, Syriacs (see names of Syriac Christians), are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia. They are Eastern Aramaic speaking Semites who trace their ancestry back to the Sumero-Akkadian civilisation that emerged in Mesopotamia circa 4000- 3500 BC, and in particular to the northern region of the Akkadian lands, which would become known as Assyria by the 24th Century BC. The Assyrian nation existed as an independent state, and often a powerful empire, from the 24th century BC until the end of the 7th century BC.
Today that ancient territory is part of several nations; Assyria remained a Geo-political entity after its fall, and was ruled as an occupied province under the rule of various empires from the late 7th century BC until the mid 7th century AD when it was dissolved, and the Assyrian people have gradually become a minority in their homelands since that time. They are indigenous to, and have traditionally lived all over what is now Iraq, north east Syria, north west Iran, and Southeastern Turkey. They are predominantly Christian.
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Azeris
The Azerbaijanis ( /ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːni/; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycanlılar, Азәрбајҹанлылар, آذربایجانلیلار ) or Azarbaijanis are Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighboring states, Georgia, Russia (Dagestan) and formerly Armenia. Also referred to as Azeris or Azaris (Azərilər, Азәриләр, آذریلر ) or Azerbaijani Turks (Azərbaycan türkləri), they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau. The Azerbaijanis are predominantly Shi'a Muslim and have a mixed cultural heritage including Turkic, Iranic and Caucasian elements.
Following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1813 and 1828, the territories of the Qajar Persian Empire in the Caucasus were ceded to the Russian Empire and the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 finalized the borders between Czarist Russia and Qajar Iran. The formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 established the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Despite living on two sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single ethnic group. However, northerners and southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution in Iranian Azerbaijan and Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azerbaijanis, and is mutually intelligible with Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz and Anatolian Turkish (including the dialects spoken by the Iraqi Turkmen), all of which belong to the Oghuz, or Western, group of Turkic languages.
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Bosnians
Bosnians (Bosnian: Bosanci) are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By modern state definition, a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats. Those who reside in the geographical region of Herzegovina prefer to call themselves Herzegovinians in a localized, regional sense. Ethnic minorities such as Jews, Roma, Albanians, Montenegrins and others may consider Bosnian to be attached to their ethnicity (e.g. Bosnian Albanians).
In addition, there is a sizable population in Bosnia and Herzegovina who believe that Bosnians are a people that constitute a distinct collective cultural identity.
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Caria
Caria ([pronunciation?]; or Karia) (from Luwian Karuwa meaning "steep country", Ancient Greek, Καρία) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there. The eponymous inhabitants of Caria were known as Carians, and they had arrived in Caria before the Greeks. They were described by Herodotos as being of Minoan descent, while the Carians themselves maintained that they were Anatolian mainlanders intensely engaged in seafaring and were akin to the Mysians and the Lydians. The Carians did speak an Anatolian language, which does not necessarily reflect their geographic origin, as Anatolian once may have been widespread. Also closely associated with the Carians were the Leleges, which could be an earlier name for Carians or for a people who had preceded them in the region and continued to exist as part of their society in a reputedly second-class status.
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Carl Ritter
Carl Ritter (August 7, 1779 – September 28, 1859) was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography. From 1825 until his death, he occupied the first chair in geography at the University of Berlin.
Ritter was born in Quedlinburg, one of the six children of a well-respected doctor, F. W. Ritter.
Ritter's father died when he was two. At the age of five, he was enrolled in the Schnepfenthal Salzmann School, a school focused on the study of nature (apparently influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's writings on children's education). This experience would influence Ritter throughout his life, as he retained an interest in new educational modes, including those of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Indeed, much of Ritter's writing was based on Pestalozzi's three stages in teaching: the acquisition of the material, the general comparison of material, and the establishment of a general system.
After completion of his schooling, Ritter was introduced to Bethmann Hollweg, a banker in Frankfurt. It was arranged that Ritter should become tutor to Hollweg's children, but that in the meantime he should attend the University of Halle at his patron's expense. His duties as tutor began in 1798 and continued for fifteen years. The years 1814–1819, which he spent at Göttingen in order still to watch over his pupils, were those in which he began to exclusively study geography. It was there that where he courted and married Lilli Kramer, from Duderstadt and that he wrote and published the first two volumes of his Erdkunde.
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Christopher Howgego
Professor Christopher Howgego is a British numismatist and classicist, who lectures on Ancient Greek and Roman numismatics at Oxford University. He is also the assistant keeper of the Herberden coin room at the Ashmolean museum.
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Galatia
Ancient Galatia ( /ɡəˈleɪʃə/; Greek: Γαλατία) was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of the East, Roman writers calling its inhabitants Galli (Gaul or Celt). The Galateans themselves were not literate, and their name for themselves remains unknown.
Galatia was bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, on the east by Pontus and Cappadocia, on the south by Cilicia and Lycaonia, and on the west by Phrygia. Its capital was Ancyra (i.e. Ankara, today the capital of modern Turkey ).
Seeing something of a Hellenized savage in the Galatians, Francis Bacon and other Renaissance writers called them "Gallo-Graeci", "Gauls settled among the Greeks" and the country "Gallo-Graecia", as had the 3rd century AD Latin historian Justin. The more usual term in Antiquity is Ἑλληνογαλάται (Hellēnogalátai) of Diodorus Siculus' Biblioteca historica v.32.5, in a passage that is translated "...and were called Gallo-Graeci because of their connection with the Greeks", identifying Galatia in the Greek East as opposed to Gallia in the West.
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Georgian people
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
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Georgians
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
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Gerardus Mercator
Gerardus Mercator[pronunciation?] (born 5 March 1512 in Rupelmonde in the Hapsburg County of Flanders, Holy Roman Empire, died 2 December 1594 in Duisburg, United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Holy Roman Empire) was a cartographer. He is remembered for the Mercator projection world map, which is named after him. This proved very useful to many later navigators who could (using his map) sail across the entire ocean on approximately straight paths (called rhumb lines). He died in Duisburg.
Mercator was born Gerard de gemor or de Cremer in the Flemish town of Rupelmonde to parents from Gangelt in the Duchy of Jülich, where he was raised. "Mercator" is the Latinized form of his name. It means "merchant". He was educated in 's-Hertogenbosch by the famous humanist Macropedius and at the University of Leuven. Despite Mercator's fame as a cartographer, his main source of income came through his craftsmanship of mathematical instruments. In Leuven, he worked with Gemma Frisius and Gaspar Myrica from 1535 to 1536 to construct a terrestrial globe, although the role of Mercator in the project was not primarily as a cartographer, but rather as a highly skilled engraver of brass plates. Mercator's own independent map-making began only when he produced a map of Palestine in 1537; this map was followed by another—a map of the world (1538) – and a map of Flanders (1540). During this period he learned Italic script because it was the most suitable type of script for copper engraving of maps. He wrote the first instruction book of Italic script published in northern Europe.
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Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire (Turkish: Büyük Selçuklu Devleti, Persian: دولت سلجوقیان) was a medieval Persianate,Turko-PersianSunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. From their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuqs advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia.
The Seljuq empire was founded by Tughril Beg in 1037 after the efforts by the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, Seljuq Beg, back in the first quarter of the eleventh century. Seljuq Beg's father was in a higher position in the Oghuz Yabgu State, and gave his name both to the state and the dynasty. The Seljuqs united the fractured political scene of the Eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. The Seljuqs conquest gave impetus to the progressive Turkicization of parts of Anatolia, Iran and the Caucasus.
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Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes (Greek: Ἕλληνες, [ˈelines]), are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and other regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world.
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established in most corners of the Mediterranean, but Greeks have always been centered around the Aegean Sea, where the Greek language has been spoken since antiquity. Until the early 20th century, Greeks were uniformly distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, Pontus, Egypt, Cyprus and Constantinople; many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of the ancient Greek colonization.
In the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), a large-scale population exchange between Greece and Turkey transferred and confined Christians from Turkey, except Constantinople (effectively ethnic Greeks) into the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. Other ethnic Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and in diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church.
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Hemshin people
The Hemshin peoples (Armenian: Համշէնցիներ Hamshentsiner) or Hemshinli (Turkish: Hemşinli) also known as Hamshenis or Homshentsi, are a diverse group of people who in the past or present have been affiliated with the Hemşin district in the province of Rize, Turkey.
The term "the Hemshin" is used also in some publications to refer to Hemshinli.
Robert H. Hewsen shows the region where today's Hemshin is located to be populated by a people with different designations throughout the ancient and early medieval history. He indicates thereby that some designations may have alternative forms and partially presents the names used with question marks. In summary from 13th century to 6th century BC Kolkhians, 550 to 330 BC Kolkhiansa and Makrones, 180 BC to 14 AD Laz (Chanian tribes), in the Arsacid Period (63 AD–298 AD) Heniokhians, Makhelones, Heptakometians, Mossynoeci as well as Sannians, Drilles and Makrones are mentioned.
The Hemshin region is shown as part of Colchis (299 AD–387 AD),Tzanica ( 387 AD–591 AD) and Chaldia ( 654 AD–750 AD). The specific location of Hemşin is indicated as Tambur/Hamamašen as a fort and town for the first time in the map covering the period 654–750.
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Herodotus
Herodotus ( /hɨˈrɒdətəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos) was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria (modern day Bodrum, Turkey) and lived in the fifth century BC (circa 484 – 425 BC). He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative.The Histories—his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced—is a record of his "inquiry" (or ἱστορία historía, a word that passed into Latin and acquired its modern meaning of "history"), being an investigation of the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars and including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Although some of his stories were fanciful, he claimed he was reporting only what had been told to him. Little is known of his personal history.
The Histories, otherwise known as The Researches or The Inquiries, were divided by later Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses: the "Muse of History", Clio, representing the first book, then Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania and Calliope for books 2 to 9, respectively. At its simplest and broadest level of meaning, The Histories is structured as a dynastic history of four Persian kings:
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Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age Indo-European speaking people of Anatolia. They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c. the 14th century BC, encompassing a large part of Anatolia, north-western Syria about as far south as the mouth of the Litani River (in present-day Lebanon), and eastward into upper Mesopotamia. The Hittite military made successful use of chariots. By the mid-14th century BC (under king Suppiluliuma I), they had carved out an empire that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. After c. 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some surviving until the 8th century BC.
Their Hittite language was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Natively, they referred to their land as Hatti, and to their language as Nesili (the language of Nesa). The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology. Despite the use of "Hatti", the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, and spoke a non-Indo-European language known as Hattic.
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Ionian Greeks
The Ionians (Greek: Ἴωνες, Íōnes, singular Ἴων, Íōn) were one of the four major Greek tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided (along with the Dorians, Aeolians and Achaeans). The Ionian dialect was one of the three major linguistic divisions of the Hellenic world, together with the Dorian and Aeolian.
"Ionian" with reference to populations had several senses in Classical Greece. In the narrowest sense, it was used of the region of Ionia in Asia Minor. In a more broad sense, it could be used to describe all speakers of the Ionic dialect, which also included the populations of Euboea, the Cyclades and many colonies founded by Ionian colonists. Finally, in the broadest sense, it could be used to describe all those who spoke languages of the East Greek group, which included Attic.
The foundation myth which was current in the Classical period suggested that the Ionians were named after Ion, son of Xuthus, and lived in the north Peloponnesian region of Aegilaus. When the Dorians invaded the Peloponnese and expelled the Achaeans from the Argolid and Lacedaemonia, the Achaeans moved into Aegilaus (henceforth known as Achaea), and the Ionians were in turn expelled. The Ionians went to Attica and mingled with the population there, before many people finally emigrated to the coast of Asia Minor, founding the historical region of Ionia.
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Ionians
The Ionians (Greek: Ἴωνες, Íōnes, singular Ἴων, Íōn) were one of the four major Greek tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided (along with the Dorians, Aeolians and Achaeans). The Ionian dialect was one of the three major linguistic divisions of the Hellenic world, together with the Dorian and Aeolian.
"Ionian" with reference to populations had several senses in Classical Greece. In the narrowest sense, it was used of the region of Ionia in Asia Minor. In a more broad sense, it could be used to describe all speakers of the Ionic dialect, which also included the populations of Euboea, the Cyclades and many colonies founded by Ionian colonists. Finally, in the broadest sense, it could be used to describe all those who spoke languages of the East Greek group, which included Attic.
The foundation myth which was current in the Classical period suggested that the Ionians were named after Ion, son of Xuthus, and lived in the north Peloponnesian region of Aegilaus. When the Dorians invaded the Peloponnese and expelled the Achaeans from the Argolid and Lacedaemonia, the Achaeans moved into Aegilaus (henceforth known as Achaea), and the Ionians were in turn expelled. The Ionians went to Attica and mingled with the population there, before many people finally emigrated to the coast of Asia Minor, founding the historical region of Ionia.
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Jews
The Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים ISO 259-3 Yhudim Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]), also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and an ethnoreligious group, originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation.Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos is equal to those born into it, have been absorbed into the Jewish people throughout the millennia.
In Jewish tradition, Jewish ancestry is traced to the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the second millennium BCE. The modern State of Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its Basic Laws, and Israel's Law of Return states: "Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh." Israel is the only country where Jews are a majority of the population. Jews achieved political autonomy twice before in ancient history. The first of these periods lasted from 1350 to 586 BCE, and encompassed the periods of the Judges, the United Monarchy, and the Divided Monarchy of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, ending with the destruction of the First Temple. The second was the period of the Hasmonean Kingdom spanning from 140 to 37 BCE. Since the destruction of the First Temple, most Jews have lived in diaspora. A minority in every country in which they live (except Israel), they have frequently experienced persecution throughout history, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries.
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Kadi Burhan al-Din
Kadi Burhan al-Din Ahmed (Azerbaijani: Qazi Bürhanəddin, Turkish: Kadı Burhaneddin) was vizier and atabeg to the Eretnid rulers of Anatolia. In 783 AH (1381–1382) he took over Eretnid lands and claimed the title of sultan for himself. He was an outstanding Azerbaijani Turkish poet. He was also a poet who wrote primarily in Persian. He is most often referred to by the title “kadi“, or Islamic judge, his first position under the Eretnids.
Burhan al-Din justified his claim to the throne through descent from the Seljuks: his grandmother was the granddaughter of Kaykaus II. The Eretnid sultanate he inherited had a large Turkmen and Mongol population but also contained many of the older, established urban centers of the Seljuks of Rum and Ilkhanid Anatolia. The sultanate resembled these older states more than the Turkmen beyliks then ascendant in other parts of Anatolia.
The Kadi’s eighteen-year rule was not peaceful. He challenged the Turkmen Karamanids and twice fought Kötürüm Bayezid, Jandarid bey of Kastamonu. In 1387, he was defeated by the Mamluks of Egypt. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, accompanied by his vassal the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologos, campaigned unsuccessfully against Burhan al-Din in 1391. He met his end in 1398 at the hands of the Ak Koyunlu and was succeeded by his son Zayn al-‘Abidin, who ruled for a short time between 1398 and 1399. His türbe, or mausoleum, survives in Sivas.
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Kurds
The Kurdish people, or Kurds (Kurdish: کورد Kurd), are an Iranic people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They speak the Kurdish language, which is a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. The Kurds number about 30 million, the majority living in the Middle East, with significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, Lebanon and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States. The Kurds are an indigenous ethnic minority in countries where the Kurdistan region is located, although they have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991. An irredentist movement pushes for the creation of a Kurdish nation state.
The exact origins of the name, "Kurd", are unclear. Reynolds believes that the term Kurd is most likely related to the ancient term Qardu. The common root of Kurd and Qardu is first mentioned in a Sumerian tablet from the third millennium B.C. as the "land of Kar-da." Qardu is etymologically related to the Assyrian term Urartu corresponding to Ararat. According to Asatrian, the most reasonable explanation of this ethnonym is its possible connections with the Cyrtii (Cyrtaei)
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Laz people
The Laz (Lazi (ლაზი) or Lazepe (ლაზეფე) in Laz; Lazlar in Turkish; Lazi (ლაზი) or Č’ani (ჭანი) in Georgian) are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. One of the chief tribes of ancient kingdom of Colchis, the Laz were initially early adopters of Christianity, and most of them subsequently converted to Sunni Islam during Ottoman rule of Caucasus in the 16th century.
The Laz of Turkey form two principal groups. One of these is indigenous to the eastern Black Sea province formerly known as Lazistan (modern Rize and Artvin provinces). The other group fled the Russian expansion later in the 19th century and settled in Adapazarı, Sapanca, Yalova and Bursa, in western and eastern parts of the Black Sea and Marmara regions, respectively. The Laz speak the Laz language, related to Mingrelian, Georgian and Svan (Kartvelian languages). Laz identity in Georgia has largely merged with a Georgian identity and the meaning of "Laz" is seen as merely a regional category, and are mainly concentrated in Ajaria.
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Lydia
Lydia (Assyrian: Luddu; Greek: Λυδία) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian.
At its greatest extent, the Kingdom of Lydia covered all of western Anatolia. Lydia (known as Sparda by the Achaemenids) was a satrapy (province) of the Achaemenid Empire, with Sardis as its capital. Tabalus, appointed by Cyrus the Great, was the first satrap (governor). (See: Lydia (satrapy)).
Lydia was later the name for a Roman province. Coins are thought to have been invented in Lydia around the 7th century BC.
The endonym Śfard (the name the Lydians called themselves) survives in bilingual and trilingual stone-carved notices of the Achaemenid Empire: the satrapy of Sparda (Old Persian), Aramaic Saparda, Babylonian Sapardu, Elamitic Išbarda. These in the Greek tradition are associated with Sardis, the capital city of Gyges, constructed in the 7th century BC.
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Medes
The Medes (/midz/) (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.
In the 7th century BCE a unified Median state was formed which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East. An alliance with the Babylonians helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BCE which resulted in the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal centre) beyond their original homeland (central-western Iran) and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Halys River in Anatolia. The Median kingdom was conquered in 550 BCE by Cyrus the Great who established the next Iranian dynasty—the Achaemenid Empire.
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Orhan I
Orhan I or Orhan Bey (Ottoman: اورخان غازی, Orhan Gazi; 1281, Sogut – March 1361, Bursa) was the second bey of the nascent Ottoman Empire (then known as the Ottoman Beylik or Emirate) from 1326 to 1359. He was the son of Osman I and Malhun Hatun, the daughter of Abdulaziz Bey.
In the early stages of his reign, Orhan focused his energies on conquering most of northwestern Anatolia. The majority of these areas were under Byzantine rule and he won his first battle, at Pelekanon, against the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos. Orhan also occupied the lands of the Karasids of Balıkesir and the Ahis of Ankara.
A series of civil wars surrounding the ascension of the nine-year-old emperor John V benefited Orhan greatly. In the first, the regent John Kantakouzenos married his daughter Theodora to Orhan and employed Ottoman warriors against the rival forces of the queen dowager, allowing them to loot Thrace. In the second, Kantakouzenos used Ottoman forces against John V himself, granting them the use of a European fortress at Çimpe around 1352. A major earthquake devastated Gallipoli (modern Gelibolu) two years later and Orhan's son Suleyman Pasha occupied the town, giving the Ottomans a strong bridgehead into mainland Europe.
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Osman I
Osman I or Othman I or El-Gazi[citation needed] (1258 – 1326) Ottoman Turkish: سلطان عثمان غازى Sultan Osman Ghazi, Turkish: Osman Gazi or Osman Bey or I. Osman, Osman Gazi Han), nicknamed "Kara" for his courage, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire. The Empire, named after him, would prevail as a world empire for over six centuries.
Osman announced the independence of his own small kingdom from the Seljuk Turks in 1299. The westward drive of the Mongol invasions had pushed scores of Muslims toward Osman's Anatolian principality, a power base that Osman was quick to consolidate. As the Byzantine Empire declined, the Ottoman Empire rose to take its place.
Ertuğrul, Osman's father, led the Turkic Kayi tribe west into Anatolia, fleeing the Mongol onslaught. His mother was named Khaima. He pledged allegiance to Sultan Kayqubad I of the Seljuk principality of Rum, who gave him permission to establish an emirate and expand it if he could, at the expense of the neighboring Byzantine provinces.
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Osmanli
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
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Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
wn.com/Ottoman_Empire -
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy ( /ˈtɒləmi/; Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, Klaudios Ptolemaios; Latin: Claudius Ptolemaeus; c. AD 90 – c. AD 168), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This theory, proposed by Theodore Meliteniotes, could be correct, but it is late (ca. 1360) and unsupported. There is no reason to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else than Alexandria, where he died around AD 168.
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest (in Greek, Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise", originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, "Mathematical Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος "Four books"), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
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Richard Chorley
Richard John Chorley (4 September 1927 - 12 May 2002) was a leading figure in the late 20th century for his work in quantitative geography, and played an instrumental role in bringing in the use of systems theory to geography.
Chorley grew up in south-west England in an area known as the West Country, with roots in Exmoor and the Vale of Taunton Deane. He was a product of a local primary school and Minehead Grammar School. Later on, Chorley began studying Geomorphology as an undergraduate at the School of Geography at Oxford, where he went up to Exeter College after service with the Royal Engineers. Here he was greatly influenced by R.P. Beckinsale, who advised Chorley to go on to graduate study in the United States. He made a transatlantic move in 1951 as a Fulbright Scholar to Columbia University where he was a graduate student in the Geology Department and explored the quantitative approach to land form evolution.
In 1957, Chorley's academic career at Columbia, and subsequently Brown University, was interrupted by the need to return to Britain for family reasons. He was soon appointed a Demonstrator at Cambridge University and proceeded to move rapidly up the university hierarchy with a readership in 1970 and ad hominem chair in 1974. Cambridge provided the launching pad for Chorley's revolutionary ideas. He rejected the prevailing paradigm of the Davisian cycles of erosion and sought to replace these with a quantitative model-based paradigm with an emphasis on General Systems Theory and numerical modelling.
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Rumi
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (Persian: جلالالدین محمد بلخى Persian pronunciation: [dʒælɒːlæddiːn mohæmmæde bælxiː]), also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (جلالالدین محمد رومی Persian pronunciation: [dʒælɒːlæddiːn mohæmmæde ɾuːmiː]) and popularly known as Mevlānā in Turkey and Mawlānā (Persian: مولانا Persian pronunciation: [moulɒːnɒː]) in Iran and Afghanistan but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273) was a 13th-century PersianMuslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.Rūmī is a descriptive name meaning "Roman" since he lived most of his life in an area called "Rûm" (then under the control of Seljuq dynasty) because it was once ruled by the Eastern Roman Empire. He was one of the figures who flourished in the Sultanate of Rum.
It is likely that he was born in the village of Wakhsh, a small town located at the river Wakhsh in Persia (in what is now Tajikistan). Wakhsh belonged to the larger province of Balkh, and in the year Rumi was born, his father was an appointed scholar there. Both these cities were at the time included in the greater Persian cultural sphere of Khorasan, the easternmost province of Persia and was part of the Khwarezmian Empire.
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Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas (Greek: Ἅγιος Νικόλαος, Hagios ["Saint", literally "Holy", Latin: Sanctus] Nicolaos ["victory of the people"]) (270 – 6 December 343), also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra (Demre, part of modern-day Turkey) in Lycia. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker (Νικόλαος ὁ Θαυματουργός, Nikolaos ho Thaumaturgos). He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas, itself from a series of elisions and corruptions of the transliteration of "Saint Nikolaos". His reputation evolved among the faithful, as was common for early Christian saints. In 1087, part of the relics (about half of the bones) were furtively translated to Bari, in southeastern Italy; for this reason, he is also known as Nikolaos of Bari. The remaining bones were taken to Venice in 1100. His feastday is 6 December [O.S. 19 December].
wn.com/Saint_Nicholas -
Seljuk Turks
The House of Seljuq (Persian: سلجوقيان Saljūqīyān; Turkish Selçuklular) also Seljuq Turks, were a Turco-PersianSunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic origin that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They established an empire, the Great Seljuq Empire, which at its height stretched from Anatolia through Persia and which was the target of the First Crusade. The dynasty had its origins in the Turcoman tribal confederations of Central Asia.
Prior to the ninth century, hordes of Turks had crossed the Volga River into the Black Sea steppes. Originally, the House of Seljuq was a branch of the Qinik (Kınık) Oghuz Turks who in the 9th century lived on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral seas in their Yabghu Khaganate of the Oghuz confederacy, in the Kazakh Steppe of Turkestan. In the 10th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia, in the province of Khurasan, where they mixed with the local population and adopted the Persian culture and language in the following decades.
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Seven Sleepers
The Seven Sleepers, commonly called the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus", refers to a group of Christian youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around 250 AD, to escape a persecution of Christians being conducted during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius. Having fallen asleep inside the cave, they purportedly awoke approximately 150-200 years later during the reign of Theodosius II, following which they were reportedly seen by the people of the now-Christian city before dying. An outline of this tale appears in Gregory of Tours (b. 538, d. 594), and in Paul the Deacon's (b. 720, d. 799) History of the Lombards. The best-known Western version of the story appears in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend.
The story has its highest prominence, however, in the Muslim world; it is told in the Qur'an (Surah 18, verse 9-26). While not giving the number of youths involved, the Quranic rendering of the Seven Sleepers story largely parallels the Christian account. Unlike the Christian story, the Islamic version includes a dog who allegedly accompanied the youths into the cave, and kept watch at the entrance for the entire time[citation needed] (see Islamic interpretation). In Islam, these youths are referred to as "The People of the Cave". It represents one of the trials of Muhammad by the Jewish elders of Madina while he was in Makkah; by explaining this mystery to his followers, Muhammad would confirm his being a Prophet of God.
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Tatars
Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar / Татарлар, sometimes spelled Tartars) are a Turkic people, numbering around 7 million. The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of 5.5 million, 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan, 1 million in the republic of Bashkortostan and other 2.5 million in different regions of Russia. Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.
The Tatars originated with the Tatar confederation in the north-eastern Gobi desert in the 5th century. After subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, they migrated southward. In the 13th century Mongol Empire, they were subjugated under Genghis Khan and reassigned once again particularly by his son Jochi. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan, they moved westwards, forming part of the Golden Horde which dominated the Eurasian steppe during the 14th and 15th centuries. In Europe, they were assimilated by the local populations or their name spread to the conquered peoples: Kipchaks, Kimaks and others; and elsewhere with Uralic-speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient Greek colonies in the Crimea and Caucasians in the Caucasus.
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Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups that live in northern, central and western Asia, northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds. The term Turkic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people including existing societies such as the Turkish, Azerbaijani, Chuvashes, Kazakhs, Tatars, Kyrgyzs, Turkmens, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Bashkirs, Qashqai, Gagauzs, Yakuts, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks, Karakalpaks, Karachays, Nogais and as well as past civilizations such as the Göktürks, Kumans, Kipchaks, Avars, Bulgars, Turgeshes, Khazars, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, Mamluks, Timurids and possibly Huns and the Xiongnu.
The distribution of people of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia, across Central Asia, to Eastern Europe. As of 2011[update] the largest groups of Turkic people live throughout Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Turkey and Iran. Additionally, Turkic people are found within Crimea, East Turkistan region of western China, northern Iraq, Pakistan, Israel, Russia, Afghanistan, and the Balkans: Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. A small number of Turkic people also live in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Small numbers inhabit eastern Poland and the south-eastern part of Finland. There are also considerable populations of Turkic people (originating mostly from Turkey) in Germany, United States, and Australia, largely because of migrations during the 20th century.
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Turkish population
The Turkish population refers to the number of Turkish people in the world.
wn.com/Turkish_population -
Turkmen people
The Turkmen (Turkmen: Türkmen/Түркмен, plural Türkmenler/Түркменлер) are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, Syria, Iraq and North Caucasus (Stavropol Krai). They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz and Salar.
Originally, all Turkic tribes that were not part of the Turkic dynastic mythological system (for example, Uigurs, Karluks, Kalaches and a number of other tribes) were designated "Turkmens". Only later did this word come to refer to a specific ethnonym. The etymology of the term derives from Türk plus the Sogdian affix of similarity -myn ,-men, and means "resembling a Türk" or "co-Türk". A prominent Turkic scholar, Mahmud Kashgari, also mentions the etymology Türk manand (like Turks). The language and ethnicity of the Turkmen were much influenced by their migration to the west. Kashgari calls the Karluks Turkmen as well, but the first time the etymology Turkmen was used was by Makdisi in the second half of the 10th-century AD. Like Kashgari, he wrote that the Karluks and Oghuz Turks were called Turkmen. Some modern scholars have proposed that the element -man/-men acts as an intensifier, and have translated the word as "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks". Among Muslim chroniclers such as Ibn Kathir the etymology was attributed to the mass conversion of two hundred thousand households in AH 349 (971 CE), causing them to be named Turk Iman, which is a combination of "Turk" and "Iman" إيمان (faith, belief), meaning "believing Turks", with the term later dropping the hard-to-pronounce hamza.
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World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
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Zaza people
The Zazas, Kird, Kirmanc or Dimilis are an ethnic Iranic people whose native language is Zazaki spoken in eastern Anatolia. They primarily live in the eastern Anatolian provinces, such as Adıyaman, Aksaray, Batman, Bingöl, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Erzurum, Erzincan, Gumushane, Kars, Malatya, Mus, Sanliurfa, Sivas, and Tunceli provinces. Almost all speakers of the Zaza language consider themselves as Kurds and they are often counted as such by international statistics and surveys as part of the Kurdish people.
The exact number of Zaza Kurds is unknown, due to the absence of recent and extensive census analyses. The fact that some Zazas have mixed into other regional ethnic groups has also contributed to the uncertainty. Many Zazas live outside their homeland. Apart from widespread suppression and mass evacuation of villages, the economically miserable situation of the Zaza areas forces the local population to emigrate to Turkish or European cities. There are many Zazas living in major Turkish cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir. Moreover, the Zaza diaspora is spread across Europe (mainly in Germany) and beyond (United States, Canada, etc.) According to estimated figures, the Zaza population should be somewhere between 1 to 2 million.
wn.com/Zaza_people
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012)
"Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012)" Actors
"Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012)" Director
karaoke
Won't you believe in the darkness I'm mournin
Blaze in the night is the sign of the warnin
You don't remember the pride you believed in
Now you're to reap the reward for deceivin
Won't you leave me alone in silence
I've been greevin for all this violence
Rain is my sorrow,wind is my sadness
Can't you see me with all your blindness
Anatolia, Anatolia
We were only receivin but we always believin
Anatolia, Anatolia
May be we'll change and always will save
And promise to never leave
Can you believe in the grief of a mourner
Blood in my veins feeds the seeds of a slaughter
Won't you leave me alone in silence
I've been greevin for all this violence
Rain is my sorrow,wind is my sadness
Can't you see me with all your blindness
Anatolia, Anatolia
We were only receivin but we always believin
Anatolia, Anatolia
May be we'll change and always will save
And promise to never leave
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Mezarkabul - Anatolia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:22
- Updated: 06 Dec 2012
Superb Turkish group & their superb song !!
http://wn.com/Mezarkabul_Anatolia
Superb Turkish group & their superb song !!
East & Southeast Anatolia - TURKEY
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:27
- Updated: 23 Aug 2012
East & Southeast Anatolia - TURKEY South & Southeast Anatolia This region is geographically the smallest region of Turkey representing only 9.7% of the total area of Turkey with its 75.000 square kilometers of land certainly not that small with respect to natural and historical beauties it possesses. This region of ancient cities, is adorned by attractive natural figures, constituting a real mixture of sights and past combined with originality. Thanks to GAP (Southeastern Anatolian Project) the area is having great changes positively; many farming lands and dam lakes were formed lately with this project. Valleys and Plateaus occupy large areas in the south of southeast Taurus mountains. Central part is very mountainous and eastern part is generally flat. Long summers are very hot and dry, with high evaporation, winters are cold and rainy. Although mountainous areas are affected by Continental climate, western part shows typical characteristics of Mediterranean climate. Southeastern Anatolia is the only region of Turkey where the country produces some oil. The economy is based also on stockbreeding and agriculture, main crops and products are; wheat, barley, lentil, tobacco, cotton, and pistachio nuts. Situated on the broad plain of upper Mesopotamia, Sanliurfa is one of these points, once being a city of 1001 nights and camel caravans. Then comes Diyarbakir with its wonderful architectural designs dates back to the Middle Ages. Here is the Malabadi Bridge presenting a ...
http://wn.com/East_Southeast_Anatolia_TURKEY
East & Southeast Anatolia - TURKEY South & Southeast Anatolia This region is geographically the smallest region of Turkey representing only 9.7% of the total area of Turkey with its 75.000 square kilometers of land certainly not that small with respect to natural and historical beauties it possesses. This region of ancient cities, is adorned by attractive natural figures, constituting a real mixture of sights and past combined with originality. Thanks to GAP (Southeastern Anatolian Project) the area is having great changes positively; many farming lands and dam lakes were formed lately with this project. Valleys and Plateaus occupy large areas in the south of southeast Taurus mountains. Central part is very mountainous and eastern part is generally flat. Long summers are very hot and dry, with high evaporation, winters are cold and rainy. Although mountainous areas are affected by Continental climate, western part shows typical characteristics of Mediterranean climate. Southeastern Anatolia is the only region of Turkey where the country produces some oil. The economy is based also on stockbreeding and agriculture, main crops and products are; wheat, barley, lentil, tobacco, cotton, and pistachio nuts. Situated on the broad plain of upper Mesopotamia, Sanliurfa is one of these points, once being a city of 1001 nights and camel caravans. Then comes Diyarbakir with its wonderful architectural designs dates back to the Middle Ages. Here is the Malabadi Bridge presenting a ...
- published: 20 Jan 2008
- views: 5068
- author: TekBayrakTurk
Cafe Anatolia The Voilent Coloured Mountains
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:36
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Ensturmantal
http://wn.com/Cafe_Anatolia_The_Voilent_Coloured_Mountains
Ensturmantal
- published: 18 May 2009
- views: 52088
- author: hayaleteam
ANATOLIA
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:21
- Updated: 28 Nov 2012
THE LAND OF CIVILIZATIONS AND WONDERS NOTE: Although Istanbul is not geographically in Anatolia, it has indispensable ties with Anatolian history, glory, and culture. Therefore, Istanbul is included in that clip. Thank you.
http://wn.com/ANATOLIA
THE LAND OF CIVILIZATIONS AND WONDERS NOTE: Although Istanbul is not geographically in Anatolia, it has indispensable ties with Anatolian history, glory, and culture. Therefore, Istanbul is included in that clip. Thank you.
- published: 08 Apr 2007
- views: 16980
- author: zizi1983
Pentagram (Mezarkabul) - Anatolia (english ver.)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:11
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
English version of Pentagram's Anatolia - off of the album of the same name. I actually prefer the turkish version, but since I couldn't find this version on youtube, I figured i'd share. Not to be confused with the american doom metal band of the same name. but if anyone has anything by *that* p3entagram, let me know.
http://wn.com/Pentagram_Mezarkabul_Anatolia_english_ver
English version of Pentagram's Anatolia - off of the album of the same name. I actually prefer the turkish version, but since I couldn't find this version on youtube, I figured i'd share. Not to be confused with the american doom metal band of the same name. but if anyone has anything by *that* p3entagram, let me know.
- published: 27 Aug 2008
- views: 15120
- author: greatmahoo
The Fire of Anatolia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:14
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
The Fire of Anatolia also known as Sultans of the Dance are performing at Eurovision 2004 Song Contest Turkey. It starts with belly dance and ends with a folk dance which called "horon" from the black sea region of Turkey. UUUYyyyyyyy :))You can also hear some Turkish instruments such as; zurna, kemence(kemenche, an instrument like violin), tulum(bagpipe)... Sultans of the Dance también conocido como The Fire of Anatolia se está realizando en Eurovision Song Contest 2004 en Turquia. Usted puede también oír algunos instrumentos turcos por ejemplo; tulum, el zurna, kemence(un instrumento gusto del violín). Anadolu Atesi'nin Eurovision 2004'te sergiledigi gosteriden bir kesit. Asagidaki linkten videoyu indirebilirsiniz s1.upload.sc
http://wn.com/The_Fire_of_Anatolia
The Fire of Anatolia also known as Sultans of the Dance are performing at Eurovision 2004 Song Contest Turkey. It starts with belly dance and ends with a folk dance which called "horon" from the black sea region of Turkey. UUUYyyyyyyy :))You can also hear some Turkish instruments such as; zurna, kemence(kemenche, an instrument like violin), tulum(bagpipe)... Sultans of the Dance también conocido como The Fire of Anatolia se está realizando en Eurovision Song Contest 2004 en Turquia. Usted puede también oír algunos instrumentos turcos por ejemplo; tulum, el zurna, kemence(un instrumento gusto del violín). Anadolu Atesi'nin Eurovision 2004'te sergiledigi gosteriden bir kesit. Asagidaki linkten videoyu indirebilirsiniz s1.upload.sc
- published: 24 Jun 2006
- views: 655700
- author: TURKOMAN
Cafe Anatolia - Dream's 2008 - Consuelo Luz - Yastayim
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:45
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
Cafe Anatolia - Dream's 2008 - Consuelo Luz - Yastayim
http://wn.com/Cafe_Anatolia_Dream's_2008_Consuelo_Luz_Yastayim
Cafe Anatolia - Dream's 2008 - Consuelo Luz - Yastayim
- published: 28 May 2008
- views: 33513
- author: camlikule
Lost Songs of Anatolia - Trailer / A film by Nezih Unen
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:00
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
LOST SONGS OF ANATOLIA a film by Nezih Unen Time: 97 min. (feature) Genre: Musical/Experimental/Documentary Int'l Sales Contact: info@nezihunen.com DVD and Soundtrack CD: Will be available Synopsis: A musical journey among exotic places and people of Anatolia, unique host of ancient civilizations of 10 millennia. While this journey is showing how music and culture is derived from life, geography and work, an exploration of Anatolias versatile cultures takes place on a basis of music, dance and rituals. With 350 hours of footage, more than 10000 km traveled, 133 recorded live performances and 20 modern arrangements made, Lost Songs of Anatolia may be the first example of a kind as a Musical/Experimental/Documentary film. www.LostSongsOfAnatolia.com To get news about the project, join the group: www.facebook.com You can download this trailer from the link: files.me.com
http://wn.com/Lost_Songs_of_Anatolia_Trailer_A_film_by_Nezih_Unen
LOST SONGS OF ANATOLIA a film by Nezih Unen Time: 97 min. (feature) Genre: Musical/Experimental/Documentary Int'l Sales Contact: info@nezihunen.com DVD and Soundtrack CD: Will be available Synopsis: A musical journey among exotic places and people of Anatolia, unique host of ancient civilizations of 10 millennia. While this journey is showing how music and culture is derived from life, geography and work, an exploration of Anatolias versatile cultures takes place on a basis of music, dance and rituals. With 350 hours of footage, more than 10000 km traveled, 133 recorded live performances and 20 modern arrangements made, Lost Songs of Anatolia may be the first example of a kind as a Musical/Experimental/Documentary film. www.LostSongsOfAnatolia.com To get news about the project, join the group: www.facebook.com You can download this trailer from the link: files.me.com
- published: 03 Oct 2009
- views: 34004
- author: Kemal Kargo
Concerto Anatolia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:50
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
A Guitar concerto written by David Hahn, featuring Turkish melodies and rhythms. The work is in Four movements, named Kocekce, Taksim, Bashraf and Medley, the last one featuring a medley of Turkish folksongs. The last movement includes a Cadenza by Cem Duruoz. The video is a summary of the 24 min work, performed by METU Dogus Youth Orchestra conducted by Umut Asil.
http://wn.com/Concerto_Anatolia
A Guitar concerto written by David Hahn, featuring Turkish melodies and rhythms. The work is in Four movements, named Kocekce, Taksim, Bashraf and Medley, the last one featuring a medley of Turkish folksongs. The last movement includes a Cadenza by Cem Duruoz. The video is a summary of the 24 min work, performed by METU Dogus Youth Orchestra conducted by Umut Asil.
- published: 30 Dec 2008
- views: 5564
- author: tuttimusic
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Trailer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:37
- Updated: 27 Nov 2012
TrailerObsessed.com In the middle of the night, four men drive through the Anatolian countryside searching for a corpse, the victim of a brutal murder. The suspect claims he was drunk, and can't remember where he hid the body. As the night wears on, details about the murder begin to emerge, as well as the investigators' own secrets.
http://wn.com/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Anatolia_Trailer
TrailerObsessed.com In the middle of the night, four men drive through the Anatolian countryside searching for a corpse, the victim of a brutal murder. The suspect claims he was drunk, and can't remember where he hid the body. As the night wears on, details about the murder begin to emerge, as well as the investigators' own secrets.
- published: 19 Nov 2011
- views: 18020
- author: trailerobsessed
Explore - Turkey - Istanbul & Anatolia 1 of 4 - BBC Travel Documentary
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:15
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
Explore - Turkey - Istanbul & Anatolia 1 of 4 - BBC Travel Documentary, recorded 27.02.2011 Simon Reeve leads a team of journalists in a journey of discovery across Turkey. From the stunning mosques of Istanbul to the 'fairy chimneys' of Cappadocia and the forests of the Black Sea coast, Turkey is country of rich history and amazing landscapes. It is also a divided country where the pro-islamic government seems locked in conflict with the traditionally secular establishment, including the army, and where an armed conflict rumbles on with elements of the Kurdish minority in the South East. .
http://wn.com/Explore_Turkey_Istanbul_Anatolia_1_of_4_BBC_Travel_Documentary
Explore - Turkey - Istanbul & Anatolia 1 of 4 - BBC Travel Documentary, recorded 27.02.2011 Simon Reeve leads a team of journalists in a journey of discovery across Turkey. From the stunning mosques of Istanbul to the 'fairy chimneys' of Cappadocia and the forests of the Black Sea coast, Turkey is country of rich history and amazing landscapes. It is also a divided country where the pro-islamic government seems locked in conflict with the traditionally secular establishment, including the army, and where an armed conflict rumbles on with elements of the Kurdish minority in the South East. .
- published: 02 Apr 2011
- views: 29782
- author: RuniTravel
Anatolia - Gözyaslarim
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:08
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Anatolia_Gözyaslarim
- published: 10 Nov 2010
- views: 130880
- author: cilginturk
Fire of Anatolia @ Eurovision Turkey - Full Version (from German TV)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:22
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
Fire of Anatolia @ Eurovision [Interval Act]
http://wn.com/Fire_of_Anatolia_@_Eurovision_Turkey_Full_Version_from_German_TV
Fire of Anatolia @ Eurovision [Interval Act]
- published: 06 Dec 2008
- views: 194866
- author: VidyoIzlet
ARIFA "Anatolian Alchemy"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:38
- Updated: 30 Nov 2012
ARIFA "Anatalion Alchemy" Mehmet Polat (Turkey) ud Franz von Chossy (Germany) piano Alex Simu (Romania) sax, clarinet & live laptop, Sjahin During (Turkey/Holland) Afro Anatolian percussion. www.arifamusic.com press: "Indescribable brilliance and uniqueness" stands for this unconventional quartet founded in Amsterdam 2010. National Dutch Newspaper "Volkskrant" crowned both Arifa's Bimhuis debut concert and debut CD "Beyond Babylon" with 5 stars. Prestigious Dutch magazine Mixed World Music awarding the disc in the world music genre as "Best World music album of 2010 in the Netherlands". The 4 members are arriving from Istanbul, Bucharest and Amsterdam to take the audience on a truthful and adventurous musical journey. Original compositions and ancient melodies from Arabic, Anatolian and Balkan worlds, combined with live electronics and contemporary improvised music". Volkskrant 2010
http://wn.com/ARIFA_Anatolian_Alchemy
ARIFA "Anatalion Alchemy" Mehmet Polat (Turkey) ud Franz von Chossy (Germany) piano Alex Simu (Romania) sax, clarinet & live laptop, Sjahin During (Turkey/Holland) Afro Anatolian percussion. www.arifamusic.com press: "Indescribable brilliance and uniqueness" stands for this unconventional quartet founded in Amsterdam 2010. National Dutch Newspaper "Volkskrant" crowned both Arifa's Bimhuis debut concert and debut CD "Beyond Babylon" with 5 stars. Prestigious Dutch magazine Mixed World Music awarding the disc in the world music genre as "Best World music album of 2010 in the Netherlands". The 4 members are arriving from Istanbul, Bucharest and Amsterdam to take the audience on a truthful and adventurous musical journey. Original compositions and ancient melodies from Arabic, Anatolian and Balkan worlds, combined with live electronics and contemporary improvised music". Volkskrant 2010
- published: 28 Mar 2012
- views: 7837
- author: Sjahin During
ANATOLIA, ANADOLU, LAND OF MOTHERS, FILLED WITH MOTHERS...
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:26
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
The name ANATOLIA (in Turkish it means "Land of Mothers" or "Land Filled with Mothers") comes from the Greek "Aνατολή" (anatolē) meaning the "East" or more literally "sunrise". ANTIQITY: Ancient regions of Anatolia: Eastern Anatolia contains the oldest monumental structures in the world. For example, the monumental structures at Göbekli Tepe (12.000 BC) were built by hunters and gatherers a thousand years before the development of agriculture. Eastern Anatolia is also a heart region for the Neolithic revolution, one of the earliest areas in which humans domesticated plants and animals. Neolithic sites such as Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori and Hacilar represent the world's oldest known agricultural villages. The earliest historical records of Anatolia are from the Akkadian Empire under Sargon in the 24th century BC. The region was famous for exporting various raw materials. The Assyrian Empire claimed the resources, notably silver. One of the numerous Assyrian cuneiform records found in Anatolia at Kanesh uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. Unlike the Akkadians and the Assyrians, whose Anatolian possessions were peripheral to their core lands in Mesopotamia, the Hittites were centred at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia. They were speakers of an Indo-European language known as the "language of Nesa". Originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over a Hurrian speaking population. During the Late ...
http://wn.com/ANATOLIA,_ANADOLU,_LAND_OF_MOTHERS,_FILLED_WITH_MOTHERS
The name ANATOLIA (in Turkish it means "Land of Mothers" or "Land Filled with Mothers") comes from the Greek "Aνατολή" (anatolē) meaning the "East" or more literally "sunrise". ANTIQITY: Ancient regions of Anatolia: Eastern Anatolia contains the oldest monumental structures in the world. For example, the monumental structures at Göbekli Tepe (12.000 BC) were built by hunters and gatherers a thousand years before the development of agriculture. Eastern Anatolia is also a heart region for the Neolithic revolution, one of the earliest areas in which humans domesticated plants and animals. Neolithic sites such as Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori and Hacilar represent the world's oldest known agricultural villages. The earliest historical records of Anatolia are from the Akkadian Empire under Sargon in the 24th century BC. The region was famous for exporting various raw materials. The Assyrian Empire claimed the resources, notably silver. One of the numerous Assyrian cuneiform records found in Anatolia at Kanesh uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. Unlike the Akkadians and the Assyrians, whose Anatolian possessions were peripheral to their core lands in Mesopotamia, the Hittites were centred at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia. They were speakers of an Indo-European language known as the "language of Nesa". Originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over a Hurrian speaking population. During the Late ...
- published: 23 May 2012
- views: 663
- author: basaktarlasi9
"Hello Anatolia" Trailer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:13
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
I moved to Turkey in 2010. My family and friends thought I was crazy. Maybe I am. But I couldn't shake the stories I heard growing up, of old Smyrna and Asia Minor. Today, I'm on a journey to discover the past, while building a bridge for the future.
http://wn.com/Hello_Anatolia_Trailer
I moved to Turkey in 2010. My family and friends thought I was crazy. Maybe I am. But I couldn't shake the stories I heard growing up, of old Smyrna and Asia Minor. Today, I'm on a journey to discover the past, while building a bridge for the future.
- published: 22 Feb 2012
- views: 5871
- author: gafoundation
Pentagram - Anatolia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:05
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Pentagram Anatolia
http://wn.com/Pentagram_Anatolia
Pentagram Anatolia
- published: 23 Mar 2007
- views: 26491
- author: mutrock
Anatolian Festival (Official Trailer of Anatolian Cultures & Food Festival 2009)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:28
- Updated: 02 Sep 2012
Anatolian Cultures & Food Festival »»» The Largest Anatolian Festival in the World ««« Date: May 6-9, 2010 Location: Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California www.anatolianfestival.org ------------------------------------ »»» Dunyanin En Buyuk Anadolu Festivali ««« Tarih: Mayis 6-9, 2010 Yer: Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California www.anatolianfestival.org
http://wn.com/Anatolian_Festival_Official_Trailer_of_Anatolian_Cultures_Food_Festival_2009
Anatolian Cultures & Food Festival »»» The Largest Anatolian Festival in the World ««« Date: May 6-9, 2010 Location: Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California www.anatolianfestival.org ------------------------------------ »»» Dunyanin En Buyuk Anadolu Festivali ««« Tarih: Mayis 6-9, 2010 Yer: Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California www.anatolianfestival.org
- published: 16 May 2009
- views: 8254
- author: Selman PINARLI
Fire of Anatolia - Troy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:01
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Fire_of_Anatolia_Troy
- published: 03 Nov 2009
- views: 31886
- author: DavyFresh
Cafe Anatolia - Nihavent Oriental - Chill out music
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:26
- Updated: 06 Dec 2012
Cafe Anatolia - Nihavant Oriental - Chill out music very nice Melody
http://wn.com/Cafe_Anatolia_Nihavent_Oriental_Chill_out_music
Cafe Anatolia - Nihavant Oriental - Chill out music very nice Melody
- published: 08 Sep 2011
- views: 51605
- author: GermanBosniak
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) Movie Trailer HD - NYFF
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:02
- Updated: 10 Oct 2012
Now playing at the New York Film Festival. www.filmlinc.com A group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
http://wn.com/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Anatolia_2011_Movie_Trailer_HD_NYFF
Now playing at the New York Film Festival. www.filmlinc.com A group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
- published: 19 Sep 2011
- views: 33026
- author: movieclipsTRAILERS
Cafe Anatolia - Gülümcan (Enstrümantal)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:06
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
Cafe Anatolia - Gülümcan (Enstrümantal) - Fon Müzik - Güzel Bir Fon Müzigi - Hüzünlü, Kederli, Duygulu.
http://wn.com/Cafe_Anatolia_Gülümcan_Enstrümantal
Cafe Anatolia - Gülümcan (Enstrümantal) - Fon Müzik - Güzel Bir Fon Müzigi - Hüzünlü, Kederli, Duygulu.
- published: 06 Jun 2009
- views: 102308
- author: asibir can
Instrumental Anatolian Folk Music I - Cevizin Yaprağı (Walnut Leaf )
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:53
- Updated: 13 Nov 2012
Anatolian Folk Music (Türkü) Cafe Mosaic - Anatolian Sound (2009) Kaynak: Cafer Arikan Yöre: Afyon- Dinar Pictures are from Aegean Region of Western Turkey. The folk music of our country has a structure that was formed by collecting the specific cultural values of all civilizations that have been living in Anatolia and Turkish Thrace since the old times of history and incorporating cultural differences of the regions and that is rare and very unique throughout the whole world with its prosperity and diversity. Although our folk music has much diversity and difference with respect to regional characteristics, it can be reviewed under the below 6 regions in a general classification: Istanbul and Turkish Thrace, Aegean, Middle Anatolia, South-East Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Black Sea. This folk music "Cevizin Yaprağı Dal Arasında (Walnut Leaf Between Branch)" belongs to Afyon Province. Afyon is in mountainous countryside inland from the Aegean coast, Aegean Region (Turkish: Ege Bölgesi), is one of the 7 census-defined regions of Turkey. It is located in the west part of the country, bounded by Aegean sea (Ege Denizi) on the west, Marmara region on the north, Mediterranean region on the south & southwest and Central Anatolia region on the east. On the other hand, it should be kept into mind that substantial differences may exist between some cities, centers or districts located within the same region.. There are 8 provinces in Agean Region of Western Turkey; Afyonkarahisar ...
http://wn.com/Instrumental_Anatolian_Folk_Music_I_Cevizin_Yaprağı_Walnut_Leaf_
Anatolian Folk Music (Türkü) Cafe Mosaic - Anatolian Sound (2009) Kaynak: Cafer Arikan Yöre: Afyon- Dinar Pictures are from Aegean Region of Western Turkey. The folk music of our country has a structure that was formed by collecting the specific cultural values of all civilizations that have been living in Anatolia and Turkish Thrace since the old times of history and incorporating cultural differences of the regions and that is rare and very unique throughout the whole world with its prosperity and diversity. Although our folk music has much diversity and difference with respect to regional characteristics, it can be reviewed under the below 6 regions in a general classification: Istanbul and Turkish Thrace, Aegean, Middle Anatolia, South-East Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Black Sea. This folk music "Cevizin Yaprağı Dal Arasında (Walnut Leaf Between Branch)" belongs to Afyon Province. Afyon is in mountainous countryside inland from the Aegean coast, Aegean Region (Turkish: Ege Bölgesi), is one of the 7 census-defined regions of Turkey. It is located in the west part of the country, bounded by Aegean sea (Ege Denizi) on the west, Marmara region on the north, Mediterranean region on the south & southwest and Central Anatolia region on the east. On the other hand, it should be kept into mind that substantial differences may exist between some cities, centers or districts located within the same region.. There are 8 provinces in Agean Region of Western Turkey; Afyonkarahisar ...
- published: 22 Feb 2011
- views: 16513
- author: WorldPeaceUnion
photo: AP / Bullit Marquez
06 Dec 2012
NEW BATAAN, Philippines - A powerful typhoon that washed away emergency shelters, a military camp and possibly entire families in the southern Philippines has killed almost 350 people with nearly 400 missing, authorities said Thursday. More bodies were retrieved from hardest-hit Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces and six others impacted by Tuesday's storm, the Office of Civil Defense reported ... "It was horrible ... --- ... Location....(size: 8.0Kb)
photo: AP / Photo
06 Dec 2012
Lionel Messi missed out on a chance to match Gerd Mueller's record of 85 goals in a calendar year as he was injured during Barcelona's draw with Benfica. Messi, who hurt his left knee in a collision with Benfica keeper Artur, was taken off 30 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute. Benfica knew a win would see them finish second behind Barca in Group G ... FC Barcelona's official Twitter account tweeted after the Benfica game....(size: 2.5Kb)
photo: US Navy / Matthew Stroup
05 Dec 2012
ISAF today issued an operational update on combat operations in Afghanistan. It noted, among other things, that Afghan and coalition security forces conducted an operation in Watahpur district yesterday that resulted in the “death of insurgent leader Mohammad Yar Gul.” ... Mohammed Yar Gul coordinated the movement of insurgent fighters throughout Kunar province ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
photo: White House / Pete Souza
06 Dec 2012
The US Treasury Secretary has said the Obama administration is "absolutely" ready for the US economy to go over the "fiscal cliff" rather than accept a budget deal that does not include higher tax rates for top earners. Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday that the administration believes budget deficits are so large that they cannot be closed without boosting tax rates on the highest-earning two per cent of Americans ... 489 Source. ... Share....(size: 19.2Kb)
CNTV
08 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Supreme Court announced on Friday it has agreed to review same-sex marriage cases for the first time ... The high court will also review a lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage ... Same-sex marriage has been banned in 31 of 50 U.S ... Xinhua ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 5.6Kb)
CNTV
08 Dec 2012
BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday that it hopes Singaporean authorities will properly handle the lawsuit concerning Chinese bus drivers and safeguard their rights ... A total of 171 Chinese bus drivers took medical leave on Nov ... Related stories ... Xinhua ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported....(size: 6.2Kb)
CNTV
08 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United States vowed on Friday to "take appropriate action" in response to another satellite launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) scheduled for this month ... mainland ... U.S ... 10-22 following a failed attempt in April ... Related stories ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)
CNTV
08 Dec 2012
DAMASCUS, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The violence in Syria continued on Friday as the government troops and the armed militias are at each other's throats at a time, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged all conflicting sides in Syria to halt violence "immediately." ... Related stories ... Xinhua ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 7.7Kb)
CNTV
07 Dec 2012
BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- A 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted a county in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin in northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at 10.08 p.m. (Beijing time) on Friday, the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) reported ... The U.S ... Related stories ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 5.1Kb)
CNTV
07 Dec 2012
HAVANA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned home after receiving medical treatment in Cuba, the Granma newspaper reported Friday. Chavez arrived in Havana on Nov ... During his stay in Havana, Chavez did not abandon his official duties ... 10 ... Related stories ... Xinhua ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 6.1Kb)
CNTV
07 Dec 2012
BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Injury-ridden Chinese star hurdler Liu Xiang could be back to training next June, coach Sun Haiping said here on Friday ... The 29-year-old Shanghai native has been in the United States for physical rehabilitaion since mid-October ... Related stories ... Xinhua ... Topics ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 5.9Kb)
CNTV
07 Dec 2012
ISLAHIYE, Turkey, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during his visit to Turkey Friday, urged all sides in Syria to stop violence immediately ... "I came here to listen, but I must say the massacre in Syria should be stopped," said the UN secretary general ... 7, 2012 ... Xinhua ... Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)
CNTV
07 Dec 2012
ANKARA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Turkey for a series of talks with Turkish leaders on the Syrian crisis, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. Ban's plane landed at an airport in the province of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, where he was set to visit a refugee camp in Islahiye town sheltering Syrians fleeing violence in their country ... Related stories ... Xinhua ... Topics ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)
Irish Times
07 Dec 2012
Oh, for a return to the good old days ... It is futile to seek any trends in a world cinema that includes Andrey Zvyagintsev’s sociological ponderings on Russia in Elena, Ann Hui’s gentle naturalism in A Simple Life and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s leisurely investigations of rural Turkey in Once Upon a Time in Anatolia ... Then there is the continuing puzzle that is The Master ... NURIBILGE CEYLAN Once Upon a Time in Anatolia ... ....(size: 10.7Kb)
The Guardian
06 Dec 2012
Turkish delight … Once Upon a Time in Anatolia ... Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, his sixth feature, is arguably Ceylan's finest refinement of the manner so far ... It's simple enough ... Reading on mobile? Click here to watch. Gradually, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia evolves away from its realist-procedural overture; by almost imperceptible degrees it becomes a drama of frustration, disillusion and thwarted desires ... It's almost unbearably sad ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)
IMDb
06 Dec 2012
PR Newswire
06 Dec 2012
Google ... Whether you are flying into Dalaman or Antalya on your cheap holidays to Turkey you need to ensure that you make the most of your time in this stunning country ... The top tourist attraction or landmark ... It is easy to book an excursion from the major beach resorts to the ancient ruins here, which contain baths, temples, a well-preserved theatre, and the largest necropolis or graveyard in Anatolia, containing over 1200 tombs....(size: 5.2Kb)
For other uses, see Anatolia (disambiguation).
For the novel by Felice Picano, see An Asian Minor.
Coordinates: 39°N 32°E / 39°N 32°E / 39; 32
Anatolia (from Greek Ἀνατολή Anatolē — "east" or "(sun)rise"; also Asia Minor, from Greek: Μικρὰ Ἀσία Mikrá Asía "small Asia"; in modern Turkish: Anadolu) is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey.[1] The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Iskenderun and the Black Sea, approximately corresponding to the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. However, since Anatolia is now often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, its eastern and southeastern borders are widely taken to be the Turkish borders with the neighboring countries, which are Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, in clockwise direction.
Anatolia has been home to many civilizations throughout history, such as the Hittites, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Greeks, Assyrians, Armenians, Romans, Georgians, Seljuk Turks, and Ottomans. As a result, Anatolia is one of the most archaeologically rich places on earth.
Contents |
Definition[link]
The Anatolian peninsula, also called Asia Minor, is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, and the sea of Marmara to the northwest, which separates Anatolia from Thrace in Europe.
Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to an indefinite line running from the Gulf of Iskenderun to the Black Sea, coterminous with the Anatolian Plateau. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary,[2] as well as the archeological community.[3] Under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the East by the Armenian Highland, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia.[3] To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Greater Syria and the Mesopotamian plain.[3]
However, following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, Anatolia was defined as being effectively co-terminous with Asian Turkey. Turkey's First Geography Congress in 1941 created two regions to the east of the Gulf of Iskenderun-Black Sea line named the Eastern Anatolia Region and the Southeastern Anatolia Region,[4] the former largely corresponding to the western part of the Armenian Highland, the latter to the northern part of the Mesopotamian plain. This wider definition of Anatolia has gained widespread currency outside of Turkey and has, for instance, been adopted by Encyclopedia Britannica[5] and other encyclopedic and general reference publications.[6]
Geography[link]
See also: Geography of Turkey
Regions[link]
Black Sea Coast[link]
Main article: Black Sea Region
The Black Sea coast is characterized by a range of steep mountains that extend along the entire length of the coast, separating it from the inland Anatolian plateau. In the west, the mountains tend to be low, with elevations from 1,525–1,800 m (5,003–5,900 ft), but they rise in the easterly direction to heights greater than 3,000 m (9,800 ft) south of Rize, reaching 3,937 m (12,917 ft) at the Kaçkar Mountains in the Pontic Alps. Lengthy, troughlike valleys and basins characterize the mountains. The southern slopes, facing the Anatolian Plateau, are mostly unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of both deciduous and evergreen trees. The higher slopes facing northwest tend to be densely forested.
The coast is rugged and rocky, with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges. A few larger rivers, those cutting back through the Pontic Alps, have tributaries that flow in broad, elevated basins. Access inland from the coast is limited to a few narrow valleys because mountain ridges. Because of these natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has been isolated from Anatolia.
Marmara Region[link]
Main article: Marmara Region
The western coast of Anatolia that borders the Sea of Marmara consists mainly of rolling plateau country well suited to agriculture. It receives about 52 cm (20 in) of rainfall annually.
Densely populated, this area includes the cities of Istanbul and Bursa, Turkey's largest and fourth largest cities respectively. The Bosphorus, which links the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, is about 25 km (16 mi) long and averages 1.5 km (0.93 mi) in width but narrows in places to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). There are two suspension bridges over the Bosphorus, both its Asian and European banks rise steeply from the water and form a succession of cliffs, coves, and nearly landlocked bays. Most of the shores are densely wooded and are marked by numerous small towns and villages. The Dardanelles Strait, which links the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, is approximately 40 km (25 mi) long and increases in width toward the south. Unlike the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles has fewer settlements along its shores.
The most important valleys are the Kocaeli Valley, the Balıkesir Ovası (Balıkesir Plain), the Bursa Ovası (Bursa Plain), and the Plains of Troy (historically known as the Troad.)
Aegean Coast[link]
Main article: Aegean Region
Located on the west coast of Anatolia, the Aegean region has a fertile soil and a typically Mediterranean climate; with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The broad, cultivated lowland valleys contain about half of the country's richest farmlands.
The largest city in the Aegean Region of Turkey is İzmir, which is also the country's third largest city and second largest port after Istanbul.
Olive and olive oil production is particularly important for the economy of the region. The seaside town of Ayvalık and numerous towns in the provinces of İzmir and Aydın are particularly famous for their olive oil and related products; such as soap and cosmetics.
The region is home to many famous ancient cities; such as Troy, Assos, Pergamon (Bergama), Sardis, Ephesus, Miletus, Halicarnassus (Bodrum), Smyrna (İzmir), Hierapolis (Pamukkale), Magnesia (Manisa), Philadelphia (Alaşehir), Didyma (Didim), Aphrodisias, Kaunos, Knidos, among others.
Mediterranean Coast[link]
Main article: Mediterranean Region, Turkey
Beginning in the west of Antalya province, the south-facing Mediterranean coast of Turkey is separated from the interior by steep ranges, known as the Taurus mountains, that run along the entire length of the coast. The Taurus Mountains (Toros Dağları) are Anatolia's second chain of folded mountains. The south facing slopes rise steeply from the Mediterranean coastal plain, but slope very gently on the north side towards the Anatolian plateau. In the east, the Taurus mountains arc around the northern side of the Arabian Platform, before turning south and continuing as the ranges that define the Jordan Rift Valley. Between Adana and Antalya, the Taurus Mountains rise sharply from the coast to high elevations, reaching altitudes of over 3,700 m (12,100 ft) north of Adana. The Taurus Mountains are more rugged and less dissected by rivers than the Pontus Mountains and historically have served as a barrier to human movement inland from the Mediterranean coast except where there are mountain passes such as the historic Cilician Gates (Gülek Pass), northwest of Adana.
Toward the east, the extensive plains around Adana, Turkey's fifth largest city, consist largely of reclaimed flood lands. In general, rivers have not cut valleys to the sea in the western part of the region. East of Adana, much of the coastal plain has limestone features such as collapsed caverns and sinkholes. Other than Adana, Antalya, and Mersin, the Mediterranean coast has few major cities, although it has numerous farming villages.
Central Plateau[link]
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Main article: Central Anatolia Region
Stretching inland from the Aegean coastal plain, the Central Anatolian plateau occupies the area between the two zones of the folded coastal ranges in the north and south, extending east to the point where the two ranges converge. The plateau-like, semiarid highlands of Anatolia are considered the heartland of the country. The region varies in elevation from 600–1,200 m (2,000–3,900 ft) from west to east. The Anatolian plateau is interspersed with extinct volcanoes, the tallest of which is Mt. Erciyes, rising to 3,917 m (12,851 ft) near Kayseri.
Frequently interspersed throughout the folded mountains, and also situated on the Anatolian Plateau, are well-defined basins, which the Turks call "ova". Some are no more than a widening of a stream valley; others, such as the Konya Ovasi, are large basins of inland drainage or are the result of limestone erosion. Most of the basins take their names from cities or towns located at their rims. Where a lake has formed within the basin, the water body is usually saline as a result of the internal drainage — the water has no outlet to the sea. The two largest basins on the plateau are the Konya Ovasi and the basin occupied by the large salt lake, Tuz Gölü.
Forested areas are confined to the northwest and northeast of the plateau. Rain-fed cultivation is widespread, with wheat being the principal crop. Irrigated agriculture is restricted to the areas surrounding rivers and wherever sufficient underground water is available. Important irrigated crops include barley, corn, cotton, various fruits, grapes, opium poppies, sugar beets, roses, and tobacco. There also is extensive grazing throughout the plateau.
Central Anatolia receives little annual rainfall with an average precipitation of 40 cm (16 in) per year. The driest part of the region is the semiarid center of the plateau which receives an average yearly precipitation of 30 cm (12 in). However, actual rainfall from year to year is irregular and occasionally may be less than 20 cm (7.9 in), leading to severe reductions in crop yields for both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. Overgrazing has contributed to soil erosion on some parts of the plateau. During the summers, frequent dust storms blow a fine yellow powder across the plateau. Locusts occasionally ravage the eastern area in April and May. In general, the plateau experiences high temperatures and almost no rainfall in summer and cold weather with heavy snow in winter.
Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Regions[link]
Main article: Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey
Main article: Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey
Eastern Anatolia, where the Pontus and Taurus mountain ranges converge, is rugged country with higher elevations, a more severe climate, and greater precipitation than are found on the Anatolian Plateau. Eastern Anatolia roughly coincides with the western half of the Armenian Highland. The region is known as the Anti-Taurus, and the average elevation of its peaks exceeds 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). Mount Ararat, at 5,137 metres (16,854 ft) the highest point in Turkey, is located in the Anti-Taurus. Many of the Anti-Taurus peaks apparently are recently extinct volcanoes, to judge from extensive lava flows. Turkey's largest lake, Lake Van, is situated in the mountains at an elevation of 1,546 metres (5,072 ft). The headwaters of three major rivers arise in the Anti-Taurus: the east-flowing Aras, which pours into the Caspian Sea; the south-flowing Euphrates; and the south-flowing Tigris, which eventually joins the Euphrates in Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Several small streams that empty into the Black Sea or landlocked Lake Van also originate in these mountains.
In addition to its rugged mountains, the area is known for severe winters with heavy snowfalls. The few valleys and plains in these mountains tend to be fertile and to support diverse agriculture. The main basin is the Mus Valley, west of Lake Van. Narrow valleys also lie at the foot of the lofty peaks along river corridors.
Southeast Anatolia is south of the Anti-Taurus Mountains. It is a region of rolling hills and a broad plateau surface that extends into Syria. Elevations decrease gradually, from about 800 metres (2,600 ft) in the north to about 500 metres (1,600 ft) in the south. Traditionally, wheat and barley were the main crops of the region, but the inauguration of major new irrigation projects in the 1980s has led to greater agricultural diversity and development.
Geology[link]
Anatolia's terrain is structurally complex. A central massif composed of uplifted blocks and downfolded troughs, covered by recent deposits and giving the appearance of a plateau with rough terrain, is wedged between two folded mountain ranges that converge in the east. True lowland is confined to a few narrow coastal strips along the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Black Sea coasts. Flat or gently sloping land is rare and largely confined to the deltas of the Kızıl River, the coastal plains of Çukurova and the valley floors of the Gediz River and the Büyük Menderes River as well as some interior high plains in Anatolia, mainly around Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake) and the Konya Basin (Konya Ovasi).
Climate[link]
- Temperatures of Anatolia
-
Ankara (central Anatolia)
-
Antalya (southern Anatolia)
-
Van (eastern Anatolia)
Anatolia has a varied range of climates. The central plateau is characterized by a continental climate, with hot summers and cold snowy winters. The south and west coasts enjoy a typical Mediterranean climate, with mild rainy winters, and warm dry summers. The Black sea and Marmara coasts have temperate oceanic climate, with cool foggy summers and much rainfall throughout the year.
Ecoregions[link]
Anatolia's diverse topography and climate has fostered a similar diversity of plant and animal communities.
The mountains and coastal plain of northern Anatolia, with its humid and mild climate, is home to temperate broadleaf, mixed and coniferous forests. The central and eastern plateau, with its drier continental climate, is home to deciduous forests and forest steppes. Western and southern Anatolia, which have a Mediterranean climate, are home to Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions.
- Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests: These temperate broadleaf and mixed forests extend across northern Anatolia, lying between the mountains of northern Anatolia and the Black Sea. They include the enclaves of temperate rainforest lying along the southeastern coast of the Black Sea in eastern Turkey and Georgia.[7]
- Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests: These forests occupy the mountains of northern Anatolia, running east and west between the coastal Euxine-Colchic forests and the drier, continental climate forests of central and eastern Anatolia.[8]
- Central Anatolian deciduous forests: These forests of deciduous oaks and evergreen pines cover the plateau of central Anatolia.[9]
- Central Anatolian steppe: These dry grasslands cover the drier valleys and surround the saline lakes of central Anatolia, and include halophytic (salt tolerant) plant communities.[10]
- Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests: This ecoregion occupies the plateau of eastern Anatolia. The drier and more continental climate is home to steppe-forests dominated by deciduous oaks, with areas of shrubland, montane forest, and valley forest.[11]
- Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests: These forests occupy the western, Mediterranean-climate portion of the Anatolian plateau. Pine forests and mixed pine and oak woodlands and shrublands are predominant.[12]
- Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests: These Mediterranean-climate forests occupy the coastal lowlands and valleys of western Anatolia bordering the Aegean Sea. The ecoregion is home to forests of Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia), oak forests and woodlands, and maquis shrubland of Turkish Pine and evergreen sclerophyllous trees and shrubs, including Olive (Olea europaea), Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo), Arbutus andrachne, Kermes Oak (Quercus coccifera), and Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis).[13]
- Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests: These mountain forests occupy the Mediterranean-climate Taurus Mountains of southern Anatolia. Conifer forests are predominant, chiefly Anatolian black pine (Pinus nigra), Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani), Taurus fir (Abies cilicica), and juniper (Juniperus foetidissima and J. excelsa). Broadleaf trees include oaks, hornbeam, and maples.[14]
- Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests: This ecoregion occupies the coastal strip of southern Anatolia between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Plant communities include broadleaf sclerophyllous maquis shrublands, forests of Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis) and Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia), and dry oak (Quercus spp.) woodlands and steppes.[15]
History[link]
Main article: History of Anatolia
Anatolia has been home to many civilizations throughout history, such as the Hittites, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Greeks, Assyrians, Armenians, Romans, Georgians, Seljuk Turks and Ottomans. As a result, Anatolia is one of the archaeologically richest places on earth.[citation needed] Two of the seven wonders of the ancient world were located in Anatolia: The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.
Etymology[link]
For more details on this topic, see Names of Anatolia.
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It has been suggested that Names of Anatolia be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2009. |
The name Anatolia comes from the Greek Aνατολή (anatolē) meaning the "East" or more literally "sunrise".[16][17] The precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Ionian colonies on the Asia Minor coast. In the Byzantine Empire, Anatolikon called also Theme of the Anatolics (ανατολικόν θέμα) was a theme covering the western and central parts of Turkey's present-day Central Anatolian Region.[18][19]
Antiquity[link]
Eastern Anatolia contains the oldest monumental structures in the world. For example, the monumental structures at Göbekli Tepe were built by hunters and gatherers a thousand years before the development of agriculture. Eastern Anatolia is also a heart region for the Neolithic revolution, one of the earliest areas in which humans domesticated plants and animals. Neolithic sites such as Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori and Hacilar represent the world's oldest known agricultural villages.
The earliest historical records of Anatolia are from the Akkadian Empire under Sargon in the 24th century BC. The region was famous for exporting various raw materials.[20] The Assyrian Empire claimed the resources, notably silver. One of the numerous Assyrian cuneiform records found in Anatolia at Kanesh uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines.[20]
Unlike the Akkadians and the Assyrians, whose Anatolian possessions were peripheral to their core lands in Mesopotamia, the Hittites were centred at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia. They were speakers of an Indo-European language known as the "language of Nesa". Originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over a Hurrian speaking population. During the Late Bronze Age, they created an empire, the Hittite New Kingdom, which reached its height in the 14th century BC. The empire included a large part of Anatolia, north-western Syria and upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" states. Ancient Anatolia is subdivided by modern scholars into various regions named after the people that occupied them, such as Lydia, Lycia, Caria, Mysia, Bithynia, Phrygia, Galatia, Lycaonia, Pisidia, Paphlagonia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia.
Beginning with the Bronze Age Collapse at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the west coast of Anatolia was settled by Ionian Greeks. Over several centuries, numerous Ancient Greek city states were established on the coasts of Anatolia. Greeks started Western philosophy on the western coast of Anatolia (Pre-Socratic philosophy). In the 6th century BC, most of Anatolia was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great conquered the peninsula. Following his death and the breakup of his empire, Anatolia was ruled by a series of Hellenistic kingdoms. Two hundred years later western and central Anatolia came under Roman control, but it continued to be strongly influenced by Hellenistic culture. In the 1st century BC, the Armenians established the Armenian kingdom under Tigran who reigned throughout much of eastern Anatolia between the Caspian, Black and Mediterranean seas. Anatolia is known as the birthplace of coinage as a medium of exchange (some time in the 7th century BC), which flourished during the Greek and Roman eras.[21][22]
Medieval and Renaissance Periods[link]
After the division of the Roman Empire, Anatolia became part of the East Roman, or Byzantine Empire. Byzantine control was challenged by Arab raids starting in the 7th century (see Byzantine–Arab Wars), but in the 9th and 10th century a resurgent Byzantine Empire regained its lost territories and even expanded beyond its traditional borders, into Armenia and Syria. In the 10 years following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuk Turks established themselves over large areas of Anatolia, with particular concentrations around the north western rim.[23] The Turkish language and Islamic religion were gradually introduced as a result of the Seljuk conquest, and this period marks the start of Anatolia's slow transition from predominantly Christian and Greek-speaking, to predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking. In the following century, the Byzantines managed to reassert their control in Western and Northern Anatolia. Control of Anatolia was then split between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, with the Byzantine holdings gradually being reduced. In 1255, the Mongols swept through eastern and central Anatolia, and would remain until 1335. The Ilkhanate garrison was stationed near Ankara.[24][25]
By the end of the 14th century, most of Anatolia was controlled by various Anatolian beyliks. The Turkmen Beyliks were under the control of the Mongols, at least nominally, through declining Seljuk Sultans.[26][27] The Beyliks did not mint coins in the names of their own leaders while they remained under the suzerainty of the Ilkhanids.[28] The Osmanli ruler Osman I was the first Turkish ruler who minted coins in his own name in 1320s, for it bears the legend "Minted by Osman son of Ertugul".[29] Since the minting of coins was a prerogative accorded in Islamic practice only to a sovereign, it can be considered that Osmanli became independent of the Mongol Khans.[30]
After the decline of the Ilkhanate from 1335–1353, the Mongol Empire's legacy in the region was the Uyghur Eretna Dynasty that was overthrown by Kadi Burhan al-Din in 1381.[31] Among the Turkmen leaders the Ottomans emerged as great power under Osman and his son Orhan I. Smyrna was conquered in 1330, and the last Byzantine possession, Philadélphia (modern Alaşehir), fell in 1390. The Anatolian beyliks were in turn absorbed into the rising Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. The Ottomans completed the conquest of the peninsula in 1517 with the taking of Halicarnassus (Bodrum) from the Knights of Saint John.
Modern times[link]
With the beginning of the slow decline of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, and as a result of the expansionist policies of Czarist Russia in the Caucasus, many Muslim nations and groups in that region, mainly Circassians, Tatars, Azeris, Lezgis, Chechens, and several Turkic groups left their ancestral homelands and settled in Anatolia. As the Ottoman Empire further fragmented during the Balkan Wars, much of the non-Christian populations of its former possessions, mainly the Balkan Muslims, flocked to Anatolia and were resettled in various locations, mostly in formerly Christian villages throughout Anatolia.[32]
Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century (see the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire). During World War I, the Armenian Genocide, the Greek genocide (especially in Pontus), and the Assyrian Genocide almost entirely removed the Armenian and Assyrian populations of Anatolia, as well as a large part of its ethnic Greek population. Following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, all remaining ethnic Anatolian Greeks were forced out during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Anatolia has become Turkey, its inhabitants being mainly Turks and Kurds (see demographics of Turkey and history of Turkey).
Demographics[link]
Almost 80% of the people currently residing in Anatolia are Turks. Kurds, with 15%, constitute a major community in southeastern Anatolia, and are the largest ethnic minority. Albanians, Arabs, Armenians, Syriacs, Bosnians, Circassians, Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Hemshin, Laz and a number of other ethnic groups also live in Anatolia in smaller numbers.
See also[link]
- Aeolis
- Alacahöyük
- Anatolian hypothesis
- Anatolian languages
- Anatolianism
- Anatolian leopard
- Anatolian Plate
- Anatolian Shepherd Dog
- Anatolian beyliks
- Ancient kingdoms of Anatolia
- Antigonid dynasty
- Attalid dynasty
- Bithynia
- Byzantine Empire
- Cappadocia
- Caria
- Çatalhöyük
- Cilicia
- Doris (Asia Minor)
- Empire of Nicaea
- Empire of Trebizond
- Ephesus
- Galatia
- Gordium
- Halicarnassus
- Hattusa
- History of Anatolia
- Hittites
- Ionia
- Lycaonia
- Lycia
- Lydia
- Midas
- Miletus
- Myra
- Mysia
- Pamphylia
- Paphlagonia
- Pentarchy
- Pergamon
- Phrygia
- Pisidia
- Pontus
- Rumi
- Saint Anatolia
- Saint Nicholas
- Sardis
- Seleucid dynasty
- Seljuk Empire
- Sultanate of Rum
- Seven Sleepers
- Troad
- Troy
- Turkey
- Urartu
- Zaza people
References[link]
- ^ "Anatolia comprises more than 95 percent of Turkey's total land area."
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 2001. p. 46. ISBN 0 87779 546 0. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Co_VIPIJerIC&pg=PA883&dq=anatolia+geographical+dictionary&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=true. Retrieved 18 May 2001.
- ^ a b c Stephen Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor. The Celts in Anatolia and the impact of Roman rule. Clarendon Press, Aug 24, 1995 - 296 pages. ISBN 978-0198150299 [1]
- ^ Ali Yiğit, "Geçmişten Günümüze Türkiye'yi Bölgelere Ayıran Çalışmalar ve Yapılması Gerekenler", Ankara Üniversitesi Türkiye Coğrafyası Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi, IV. Ulural Coğrafya Sempozyumu, "Avrupa Birliği Sürecindeki Türkiye'de Bölgesel Farklılıklar", pp. 34-35.
- ^ "Anatolia". Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/22897/Anatolia. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
- ^ "Anatolia entries from Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, The Columbia Encyclopedia, and A Dictionary of World History". Encyclopedia.com. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Anatolia.aspx. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
- ^ "Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008. [2]
- ^ "Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008. [3]
- ^ "Central Anatolian deciduous forests" National Geographic ecoregion profile. Accessed May 25, 2008 [4]
- ^ "Central Anatolian steppe" WWF scientific Report. Accessed May 25, 2008. [5]
- ^ "Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008. [6]
- ^ "Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008 [7]
- ^ Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008 [8]
- ^ "Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008 [9]
- ^ "SEastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests" WWF scientific report. Accessed May 25, 2008
- ^ [10]
- ^ "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon". http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%237638.
- ^ "On the First Thema, Called Anatolikon. This theme is called Anatolikon or Theme of the Anatolics "ανατολικόν θέμα", not because it is above and in the direction of the east where the sun rises, but because it lies East of Byzantium and Europe." Constantine VII Porphyogenitus, De Thematibus, ed. A. Pertusi. Vatican: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1952, pp. 59–61.[clarification needed]
- ^ John Haldon, "Byzantium, a History", 2002. PAge 32.
- ^ a b Freeman, Charles (1999). Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-872194-3.
- ^ Howgego, C. J. (1995). Ancient History from Coins. ISBN 0-415-08992-1.
- ^ Asia Minor Coins - an index of Greek and Roman coins from Asia Minor (ancient Anatolia)
- ^ Angold, Michael (1997). The Byzantine Empire 1025-1204. p. 117. ISBN 0-582-29468-1.
- ^ H. M. Balyuzi-Muḥammad and the course of Islám, p.342
- ^ John Freely-Storm on Horseback: The Seljuk Warriors of Turkey, p.83
- ^ Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Gary Leiser-The origins of the Ottoman empire, p.33
- ^ Peter Partner-God of battles: holy wars of Christianity and Islam, p.122
- ^ Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire, p.13
- ^ Artuk-Osmanli Beyliginin Kurucusu, 27f
- ^ Pamuk-A Monetary history, p.30-31
- ^ Clifford Edmund Bosworth-The new Islamic dynasties: a chronological and genealogical manual, p.234
- ^ Justin McCarthy,"Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922",1996,ISBN 0-87850-094-4
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