History of Anatolia
Anatolia, Ancient Civilizations, anatolia photos, turkey photos, Lydia, Mediterranean, Ottoman, samos
History of Anatolia
One of the great crossroads of ancient civilizations is a large peninsula between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Called Asia Minor (Asia Minor) by the Romans, is the country in the Asian part of modern Turkey, of Thrace. It is in the Aegean Sea to the east of Greece and is usually known by its Greek name Anatolia.
Asia Minor, stands west of Asia to a half-mile (800 meters) in Europe at the divided city of Istanbul, where two suspension bridges over the Strait of Bosporus to the two continents. Asia Minor is also bordered by the Marmara Sea to the northwest. The area of the peninsula is about 292 000 square miles (756,000 km ²).
The interior is a high arid plateau, flanked by 3,000 feet (900 meters) in height, in the north and south by rugged mountain ranges. enclose within the high-level, a number of areas of broad, shallow valleys, which have formed in several salt lakes.
Anatolia, Ancient Civilizations, anatolia photos
A Mediterranean climate type of hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters prevails in the coastal areas. The dry central plateau has hot summers and cold winters. During all seasons high winds are common, moist Mediterranean winds bring rain to coastal areas in winter. There is little summer rainfall.
In about 2000 BC in Asia Minor was in the hands of the Hittites, who migrated east from the area of the Black Sea. Their civilization rivaled that of the Egyptians and Babylonians. In the 12th Century BC their empire fell to the Assyrians. Small states coast grew up, only the Greeks who colonized the entire coast in about the eighth Century BC covered. According to legend, they besieged the first time the city-state of Troy during the Trojan War. In 560 BC Croesus of Lydia, ascended the throne in Asia Minor and soon brought all the Greek colonies under his rule. Croesus was overthrown by Cyrus the Great of Persia. Two hundred years later Alexander the Great again spread Greek rule over the peninsula.
After the conquest by Rome in the 2nd Century BC, enjoyed centuries of peace in Asia Minor. During the Middle Ages, as part of the Byzantine Empire, it became a center of Christianity and the guardian of Greek and Roman culture. One of the most important medieval trade routes passed through the region. As the power of the empire went, were Arabs and Mongols. In the 15th Century the Ottoman Turks conquered the peninsula and from Istanbul (then called Constantinople) the capital. The Ottoman empire lasted until 1922. The next year Asia Minor became the larger part of the Turkish Republic under Kemal Ataturk. He had set a government in Ankara, which became the new capital of Turkey.
