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Antalya
—  City  —
The Fluted Minaret (Yivli Minare) is the symbol of the city.
Official logo of Antalya Seal of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality
Antalya Location of Antalya
Coordinates: 36°54′N 30°41′E / 36.9°N 30.683°E / 36.9; 30.683Coordinates: 36°54′N 30°41′E / 36.9°N 30.683°E / 36.9; 30.683
Country	Turkey
Region	Mediterranean
Province	Antalya
Government
• Type	Metropolitan municipality
• Mayor	Mustafa Akaydın (CHP)
Area
• City	1,417 km2 (547 sq mi)
Elevation	30 m (100 ft)
Population (2010)[1]
• Density	478/km2 (1,240/sq mi)
• Metro	1,001,318
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	07x xx
Area code(s)	0242
Licence plate	07
Website	http://www.antalya-bld.gov.tr/en

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.^[1] Antalya is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.

History[link]

Hadrian's Gate, built in the honor of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited Antalya in the year 130.

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).

Hıdırlık Tower, a 2nd century era fortification located in the Karaalioğlu Park.

Antalya was a major city in the Byzantine Empire. It was the capital of the Byzantine Theme of Carabisiani (Θέμα Kαραβησιάνων, Thema Karavēsianōn), which occupied the southern coasts of Anatolia and the Aegean Islands. At the time of the accession of John II Comnenus (1118) it was an isolated outpost surrounded by Turkish beyliks, accessible only by sea.^[2]

The city, along with the surrounding region, was conquered by the Seljuk Turks in the early 13th century. Antalya was the capital of the Turkish beylik of Teke (1321–1423) until its conquest by the Ottomans. The Arabic traveler Ibn Battuta who came to the city in between 1335-1340 noted:

From Alanya I went to Antaliya [Adalia], a most beautiful city. It covers an immense area, and though of vast bulk is one of the most attractive towns to be seen anywhere, besides being exceedingly populous and well laid out. Each section of the inhabitants lives in a separate quarter. The Christian merchants live in a quarter of the town known as the Mina [the Port], and are surrounded by a wall, the gates of which are shut upon them from without at night and during the Friday service. The Greeks, who were its former inhabitants, live by themselves in another quarter, the Jews in another, and the king and his court and Mamluks in another, each of these quarters being walled off likewise. The rest of the Muslims live in the main city. Round the whole town and all the quarters mentioned there is another great wall. The town contains orchards and produces fine fruits, including an admirable kind of apricot, called by them Qamar ad-Din, which has a sweet almond in its kernel. This fruit is dried and exported to Egypt, where it is regarded as a great luxury.^[3]

In the second half of the 17th century Evliya Çelebi wrote of a city of narrow streets containing 3,000 houses in twenty Turkish and four Greek neighborhoods. The town had grown beyond the city walls and the port was reported to hold up to 200 boats.

In the 19th century, in common with most of Anatolia, its sovereign was a "dere bey" (land lord or landowner). The family of Tekke Oğlu, domiciled near Perge, though reduced to submission in 1812 by Mahmud II, continued to be a rival power to the Ottoman governor until within the present generation, surviving by many years the fall of the other great beys of Anatolia. The records of the Levant (Turkey) Company, which maintained an agency in Antalya until 1825, documented the local dere beys.

In the 20th century the population of Antalya increased as Turks from the Caucasus and the Balkans moved into Anatolia. By 1911 it was a city of about 25,000 people, including many Christians and Jews, still living in separate quarters around the walled mina or port. The economy was centered on its port that served the inland areas, particularly Konya. Antalya (then Adalia) was picturesque rather than modern. The chief attraction for visitors was the city wall, and outside a promenade -a portion of which survives to the present. The government offices and the houses of the higher classes were all outside of the walls.^[4]

The city was briefly occupied by the Italians from the end of the First World War until the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Large scale development beginning in the 1970s transformed Antalya from a pastoral town into one of Turkey's largest metropolitan areas. Much of this has been due to tourism which expanded in the 21st century.

Etymology[link]

According to tradition, in the 2nd century BC, the Pergamon king Attalos II ordered his men to find "heaven on earth". After an extensive search, they discovered the region of Antalya. King Attalos rebuilt the city, giving it the name "Attaleia" (Greek: Αττάλεια) which later mutated in Turkish as Adalia and then Antalya. Attaleia was also the name of a festival at Delphi^[5] and Attalis (Greek: Ἀτταλίς) was the name of an ancient Greek tribe at Athens.^[6]

Demographics[link]

As of 2010, the Address-Based Birth Recording System showed a metropolitan population of 1,001,318 (502,491 male; 498,827 female).^[7]

Port of Antalya and the coastal town of Kemer on the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation) of Piri Reis from 1525.

Historic map of Antalya, Manavgat and Side by Piri Reis.

Geography[link]

Lower Düden Fall with Lara in the background.

Upper Düden Fall

This metropolis consists of five boroughs: Konyaaltı (112,647), Kepez (399,006), Muratpaşa (416,576), Aksu ( 45,094), and Döşemealtı (27,995).

Antalya is in south-west Anatolia, on the Mediterranean Gulf of Antalya, approximately 546 kilometres (339 mi) from Ankara, 562 kilometres (349 mi) from Adana, 466 kilometres (290 mi) from Izmir, and 727 kilometres (452 mi) from Istanbul.

The Taurus mountain range of southern Anatolia runs parallel to the Mediterranean in an east-west direction, resulting in the formation of narrow coastal plains surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth. Some parts of the coast feature mountains plunging sharply into the sea, forming small natural bays and peninsulas. Antalya is situated on one such plain where the mountains recede from the shore, consisting of two flat areas formed of travertine rock at a mean height of 35 metres (115 ft); the town center is located on the rocky plain closest the coast, with urban sprawl extending to the Kepezüstü Plain further inland.

Climate[link]

The area is shielded from the northerly winds by the Taurus Mountains. Antalya has a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and mild and rainy winters. Around 300 days of the year are sunny. Antalya has over 3000 hours of sunlight per year. The sea temperature ranges between 15 °C (59 °F) during winter and 28 °C (82 °F) during summer. The air temperature reached a record high of 45 °C (113 °F) in July and a record low of −4 °C (25 °F) in February. The average air temperature ranges between the low-to-mid 30 °C (86 °F).

Economy[link]

The Roman era clock tower and the 18th century Tekeli Mehmet Paşa Mosque in the city center (before the pedestrianization in 2008.)