LAND & PEOPLE

GEOGRAPHICAL SNAPSHOT

Situated at the southeastern corner of Europe, Turkey straddles the straits that divide Europe and Asia — the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus. Three percent of its landmass lies in Europe, giving it borders with Greece and Bulgaria, while 97 percent lies in Asia. The enormous Asian part, known as Anatolia, shares borders on the east and south with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The country is bounded on three sides by water: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Mediterranean to the south, and the Black Sea to the north.

European Turkey is the most densely populated part of the country. In Anatolia, the population is densest in the west, in urban centers such as Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and Izmit, and decreases steadily toward the east. In the interior the population is concentrated along the paths of rivers and in towns such as Ankara, Eskisehir, Konya, Erzurum, Malatya, and Kayseri. Most of the Central Anatolian Highlands consist of undulating hills and broad, high plateaus from which mountains occasionally rise. The population of the south coast is massed on the fertile plains of Antalya and Adana, as well as in the province of Hatay, with its port of Iskenderun. There is a steady trend of people moving into the cities from rural areas However, in the past decade the Turkish government, in order to prevent further migration to urban centers has been working hard to mix historic preservation and urban revitalization with community development and sustainable tourism in eastern Turkey.

Enclosing the Central Anatolian Highlands are two great mountain ranges: the Pontus Mountains in the north, and the Taurus range to the south. The most famous mountain is Mount Ararat in the east, where Noah's ark is reputed to have come to rest. Turkey is rich in water, the lifeblood of the Middle East. The most important rivers of the region, the Tigris and the Euphrates, each have their source here.

CLIMATE

Turkey's latitude would lead one to expect a broadly temperate or Mediterranean climate. Owing to its topography, however, the country's climate varies according to region. Turks claim that all four seasons can be experienced in any one day, albeit in different parts of the country.

The Black Sea coast has a predominantly mild summer and winter. It is the area with the heaviest rainfall (pack an umbrella for a trip here!) and is famous for its tea plantations.

The Mediterranean and Aegean coasts have a typical Mediterranean climate, with long, hot, dry summers and mild winters.

The Marmara coast is a climatic transitional zone between the first two. It is hot, but does not have such dry summers. The winters are cool, with occasional frosts and outbreaks of snow.

Central Anatolia has a markedly continental climate, with hot summers around 86°F (30°C), and bitterly cold, snowy winters, sometimes down to -22°F (-30°C). There are large temperature swings between day and night and even in summer the nights can be surprisingly cool.

A BRIEF HISTORY

When the Turks entered Anatolia in the eleventh century they encountered a cosmopolitan civilization that was itself the product of many earlier traditions. Turkish tolerance, pluralism, and openness to new ideas led to a cultural exchange that resulted in an extraordinary flowering of Islamic humanism. They created a great inclusive empire that transformed the societies they absorbed and lasted nearly a thousand years. Turks are proud not only of their own remarkable achievements, but of the fact that the ancient civilizations of their homeland are part of the inheritance of mankind.

Early Anatolian Civilizations

Sophisticated Neolithic (8000–5000 BCE) settlements with religious shrines, decorated houses, and pottery dating to the seventh and sixth millennia BCE, have been found at Hacilar and Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia.

In the Bronze Age (3000–2000 BCE) two remarkable civilizations arose: the Mesopotamian-influenced Hatti in central and southeastern Anatolia, and the Mycenean settlement of Troy in northwestern Anatolia.

At the beginning of the second millennium BCE, an Indo-European people, the Hittites, entered Anatolia via the Caucasus and gradually absorbed the Hatti. Their powerful empire, with its capital at Hattusas (Boghazkoi), vied with Egypt for domination of the Near East in the thirteenth century BCE.

Roughly contemporary with the Hittites were the Mitani, who spoke Hurrian, in eastern Anatolia, and the civilization of Troy VI, the great walled Ilion of Homer's Iliad that commanded the Hellespont (the Dardanelles).

Around 1200 BCE, invasions by Indo-European tribes from Thrace utterly destroyed Troy and Hattusas, and a dark age followed. By the Iron Age (c. 1000 BCE) Anatolia was divided into numerous principalities of different size, ethnicity, and culture. They included the Late Hittites in southeastern Anatolia and north Syria, the Urartians in the region of Lake Van and parts of Iran, the Phrygians in central and southeastern Anatolia, the Lydians, Carians, and Lycians in the west and southwest, and, on the western coastal fringe, the Ionians.

One of these invading tribes, the Phrygians, became a major power and established its capital at Gordion, between Ankara and Eskisehir. The last Phrygian king, Midas (c. 715 BCE), was recognized by the court of Sargon II of Assyria. His monuments still remain around Eskisehir.

The Lydian kingdom (750–300 BCE) was the first to invent a system of coinage, which revolutionized commerce. Sardis, the capital, was reputedly the richest city in the ancient world because of its gold mines. The wealth and might of its last king, Croesus, became proverbial.

Ionian Greeks began colonizing the western coast of Anatolia in around 1050 BCE. Their city-states included Miletus and Ephesus. In their most brilliant period, in the sixth century BCE, they gave the world philosophy and free scientific thought and became the center of poetry and the arts.

After the defeat of Croesus of Lydia by Cyrus the Great of Persia in 546 BCE, Anatolia came under Persian rule. For the first time in its history it served as a bridge between Asia and Europe — the Royal Road built by the Persians joined Iran to the Aegean coast.

The Hellenistic Age (333–30 BCE)

Alexander the Great's victory over the Persians at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE restored the independence of Anatolia's Hellenistic cities, which regained their cultural supremacy. After Alexander's death the western Anatolian kingdom of Pergamum rivaled Alexandria in cultural, scientific, and artistic achievement.

The Roman Age (30 BCE–395 CE)

Through a combination of inheritance, conquest, and alliances, Rome began to establish provinces in Anatolia from the second...