İzmir

Izmir (in Turkish Ýzmir and in ancient times known as Smyrna) is the second-largest port (after Istanbul) and the third most populous city of Turkey is located on the Aegean Sea near the Gulf of Izmir. It is the capital of the Izmir Province.

History

The city was settled before 3000 BC and was an important city of Ionians. It was an important center for traders and merchants throughout the Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman periods.

Izmir, ancient Smyrna, was the capital of the historic province of Ionia in the 7th Century BC. The city is commonly accepted as the birth place of the famous poet Homer, author of the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. Smyrna was also the birth place of the famous Rebetika and Smyrneika music.

After the fall of the Roman Empire it became part of the Byzantine Empire, until it was conquered by the Seljuks. In AD 1079 the Byzantines reconquered the city, but in 1415 it became a part of the Ottoman Empire.

The city earned its fame as one of the most important port-cities of the world during the 17th–19th centuries, while merchants from a variety of origins (especially French, Italian, Dutch, Armenian, Jewish, and Greek) transformed the city into a cosmopolitan portal of trade. During this period, the city was famous for its own brand of music (Smyrneika) as well as its wide range of products it exported to Europe (Smyrna/Sultana grapes, carpets, etc.)

The 5000 year-old city, contemporary to ancient Troy (also in modern-day Turkey), is one of the oldest cities of the Mediterranean basin. According to the famous Greek historian Herodotus (from Halicarnassus, modern-day Turkey) the city was first established by the Aeolians, but shortly thereafter seized by the Ionians who developed it into one of the world's largest cultural and commercial centers of that period. Smyrna later became known as one of the Seven Churches of Asia, where the Book of Revelation was sent to John the Apostle.

Until recently, Izmir/Smyrna (like Istanbul) was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, with a large population of Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians and Levantines (Genoese Italians, Venetian Italians and Frenchmen). The majority of the population was ethnic Greek, and at the Treaty of Sèvres Smyrna was assigned to Greece. However, troops under Atatürk conquered the city in September 1922, and the city was largely destroyed by the worst fire of its history, losing many magnificent buildings and never completely recovering back to its former glory. An estimated 70% of the city was burned, after the Armenian and Greek neighbourhoods were set aflame. Turks blame the escaping Greeks, the Greeks for their part blame the Turks, citing the fire as one of the crimes perpetrated by the Turks as part of the Hellenic Holocaust. The Turks rebuilt the city. After these events a population exchange accord was signed between Turkey and Greece as part of the cease-fire that ended the Greco-Turkish War, and the Greeks of Smyrna were deported to Greece while Turks living in various parts of Greece were deported to Turkey and were largely settled in the areas around Izmir. The city was officially renamed to Izmir in 1922 after the Greek and Armenian population had been removed. After World War II (and the famous "Wealth Tax" of the 1940s) most Levantines went to Italy and France (with large numbers of Armenians also following the same route), while most of the Jews went to Israel after the foundation of this state in 1948. Even though members of these communities still exist, their numbers have fallen sharply since the late 1940s.

Today Izmir is Turkey's third largest city and its most important port after Istanbul. Nicknamed "Occidental Izmir", it is widely regarded as the most Westernized city of Turkey in terms of values, ideology and lifestyle.

Modern Izmir also incorporates world-famous ancient cities like Ephesus, Pergamon, and Sardis.

External link

• http://www.izmirturizm.gov.tr