HISTORY
Turkey's history is astoundingly long, extending for almost 10,000 years.
Earliest Time
The Mediterranean region was inhabited as early as 7500 BC, during
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age ) times. By 7000 BC a Neolithic (New Stone Age) city had grown
up at what's now called Çatal Höyük, 60 km south-east of Konya. The early Anatolians
developed fine wall paintings, statuettes, domestic architecture and pottery. Artifacts
from the site, including the wall paintings, are displayed in Ankara Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations.
Hittites- the Bronze Age
The Old Bronze Age (2600-1900 BC) was when Anatolians first developed
cities of substantial size. An indigenous people now named the Proto- Hittites, or Hatti,
built cities at Nesa or Kanesh (today's Kültepe), and Alacahöyük. The first know ruler of Kanesh was King Zipani
(circa 2300 BC), according to Akkadian, 36 km from Boğazkale, it was perhaps the most
important pre-Hittite city and may have been the first Hittite capital.
Phrygians, Urartians, Lydians & Others
With the Hittite decline, smaller states filled the power vacuum. Around
1200 BC the Phrygians and Mysians, of Indo- European stock, invaded Anatolia from Thrace
and settled at Gordium (Yassi Höyük), 106 km south-west of Ankara
This Hittite city became the Phrygian capital (circa 800 BC). A huge
Hittite cemetery and a royal Phrygian tomb still exist at the site. King Midas (circa 715
BC ), he of the golden touch, is Phrygias's most famous son.
Cyrus & Alexander
Cyrus, emperor of Persia (550-530 BC), swept into Anatolia from the east,
conquering everybody and everything. Though he subjected the cities of the Aegean coast to
his rule, this was not easy. The independent minded citizens gave him and his successors
trouble for the next two centuries.
Roman times
The Romans took Anatolia almost by default. The various Anatolian kings
couldn't refrain from picking away at Roman holdings and causing other sorts of
irritation, so finally the legions marched in and took over. Defeating King Antiochus III
of Seleucia at Magnesia (Manisa, near İzmir) in 190 BC, the Romans were content for the
time being to leave 'Asia ' (Anatolia) in the hands of the kings of Pergamum.
Early Christianity
Christianity began in Roman Palestine (Judaea), but its foremost
proponent, St Paul, came from Tarsus in Cilicia, in what is now southern Turkey. Paul took
advantage of the excellent Roman road system to spread the teachings of Jesus. When the
Romans drove the Jews out of Judaea in 70 AD, Christian their way to the numerous small
Christian congregations in the Roman province of Asia.
The New Rome
Christianity was a struggling faith during the centuries of Roman rule. By
250 AD, the faith had grown strong enough and grown strong enough and Roman rule so
unsteady that the Roman emperor Decius decreed a general persecution of Christians. Not
only this, the empire was falling to pieces.
Justinian
While the barbarians of Europe were sweeping down on weakened Rome , the
eastern capital grew in wealth and strength. Emperor Justinian (527-65) brought the
eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire to its greatest strength. He reconquered Italy, the
Balkans, Anatolia, Egypt and North Africa and further embellished Constantinople with
great buildings.
Birth of Islam
Five years after th death of Justinian, Muhammed was born in Mecca. In 612
or so, while meditating, he heard the voice of God command him to ' recite'. Muhammed was
to become the Messenger of God, communicating his holy word to people. The written record
of these recitations, collected after Muhammed's death into a book by his family and
followers is the Koran.
The Coming of the Turks
The history of the Turks are excellent soldiers goes back at least to the
region of the Abbasid caliph Al Mutasim (833-42). This ruler formed an army of Turkish
captives and mercenaries that became the empire's strength, and also its undoing. Later
caliphs found that their protectors had become their masters, and the Turkish 'praetorian
guard' raised or toppled caliphs as it chose.
The Seljuk Empire
The first great Turkish state to rule Anatolia was the Great Seljuk
Turkish Empire (1037-1109), based in Persia. Coming from Central Asia, the Turks captured
Baghdad (1055). In 1071, Seljuk armies decisively defeated the Byzantine at Manzikert (
Malazgirt), taking the Byzantine emperor as a prisoner.
The Crusades
These 'holy wars', created to provide work for the lesser nobles and
riffraff of Europe, proved disastrous for the Byzantine emperors. Although a combined
Byzantine and crusader army captured Nicaea from the Seljuks in 1097, the crusaders were
mostly an unhelpful, unruly bunch. The Fourth Crusade (1202-04) saw European ragtag armies
invade and plunder Christian Constantiople.
Founding of the Ottoman Empire
In the late 13 th century, Byzantine weakness left a power vacuum which
was filled by bands of Turks fleeing westwards from the Mongols. Warrior bands, each led
by a warlord, took over parts of the Aegean and Marmara coasts. The Turks who moved into
Bithynia, around Bursa,were followers of a man named Ertugrul. His son, Osman, founded a
principality (circa 1288) which was to grow into the Osmanli (Ottoman) Empire.
Süleyman the Magnificent
The height of Ottoman glory was under Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent
(1520-66). Called the ' Lawgiver' by the Turks, he beautified Istanbul, rebuilt Jerusalem
and expanded Ottoman power to the gates of Vienna in 1529. The Ottoman fleet under
Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa seemed invincible, but by 1585 the empire had begun its long and
celebrated decline.
The Later Empire
By 1699, Europeans no longer feared an invasion by the 'terrible Turk '.
The empire was still vast and powerful, but it had lost its momentum and was rapidly
dropping behind the west in terms of social, military, scientific and material progress.
In the 19 th century, several sultans under took important reforms. Selim III, for
instance , revised taxation, commerce and the military.
The Turkish Republic
The situation looked very bleak for the Turks as their armies were being
disbanded and their country taken under the country taken under the control of the Allies.
But a catastrophe turned things around. Ever since gaining independence in 1831, the
Greeks had entertained the Megali Idea (Great Plan) of a new Greek empire encompassing all
the lands which had once had Greek empire encompassing all the lands which had once had
Greek influence - in effect, the refounding of the Byzantine Empire.
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