History Lessons

Exploring Turkey: A History Lesson.  

Now, I can hear you all sigh but really, Turkey is one of those countries that has seen it all and well deserves its reputation as a crossroads of civilization.  Palaeolithic peoples and onwards, battles that live on in myth to those in living memory and a country that breeches the divide between two huge continents, Turkey is never what you expect.  Perhaps we are still seduced by paintings of oriental splendour from the Romantic period and musings from tourists, including Mark Twain, on the Grand Tour.  Harems, fabulously wealthy sultans and treasures of the Silk Road no longer exist but we are lucky enough to have something of their lifestyle left to at least marvel at …. 

Many towns and cities have passed through sovereignty of many states.  Perhaps one of the best illustrations is Troy.  Archaeologists have identified at least nine "civilization" layers on this fabled city site.  For the sake of brevity, this will be a date list and is somewhat skewed to accommodate our current & future touring/boating stops.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. 1852  Gaspare Fossati, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Prehistory: 20,000 – 1200 BC

9000 BC Cave paintings near Antalya
6800 BC First known “city” at Catalhoyuk (near Konya)
2600 BC Bronze Age Hittite Empire rivals Egypt.  Capital based at Hattusa (Bogazkale)
1250 BC The Trojan War (Achaean Greeks attacked Troy)

Dark Ages: 1200 – 700 BC migrating “sea peoples” settle

1200 BC Phrygians, Lycians & others (Greeks), settle & flourish (rock tombs at Fethiye)
800 BC Gordion (near Ankara) is ruled by Phrygians (King Midas 715 BC)
353 BC Monumental tomb built at Halicarnassus (Bodrum) for Mausolus

Persian Invasion: 700 – 479 BC

546 BC Cyrus II (The Great) invades and conquers Anatolia

Classic Hellenistic: 479 – 130 BC

Alexander the Great: melds Western & Eastern Europe
334BC Alexander defeats the Persians
200 BC Prusias founds Prusia (Bursa)
190 BC Hierapolis (Pamukkale) founded as a cure centre by King of Pergamum

Roman Empire: 130 BC – 330 AD

130 BC Romans create province of Asia Minor
129 BC Provincial Capital established at Ephesus

Early Christianity:

37 AD St John the Baptist retired to Ephesus with Mary (Selcuk)

40 AD St Paul (from Tarsus) begins preaching Christianity

Byzantine Empire: 330 – 1453 AD

324 Emperor Constantine unites the empire declaring equal rights for all religions
330 Constantinople becomes capital of New Rome

Seljuk Empire: 1071 - 1243

612 Birth of Islam

6-9 c Underground cities are used by Christians (Derinkuyu)
1071 Seljuks (based in Persia) enter Anatolia (Nicea)

11 c Christians seek refuge in Cappadocia’s caves & underground cities (Goreme)
1204 Crusaders sack Constantinople (Kas - Simena )
1229 Sultanhani built.  It remains Turkey’s largest caravanserai
1243 Mongols over run last Seljuk Sultanate (Konya) & rule until 1335

Ottoman Empire: 1453 - 1923

1288 Osman founds a principality that grew to be the Ottoman Empire (Bursa)
1402 Tamerlane invades
1453 Mehmet II conquers Constantinople, ends Byzantine rule. Renames city Istanbul.
1832 Kingdom of Greece established; Ottoman Empire in decline
1914 – 18 Turks fight in WWI (Gallipoli) 

Turkish Repbulic:  1923 - current

1920 - 22 Turkish War of Independence
1923 Ataturk established Republic & undertakes reforms to modernise Turkey
1923 A population exchange between Greeks & Turks takes place (Kayakoy)

Map from: Science Kids NZ