Anatolia
Anatolia (Greek: ανατολή anatolē or anatolí) is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey. It means "rising of the sun" or "East", is also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor. In Turkish it is called Anadolu. It is a derivation of its original Greek version indeed. Because of its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Anatolia has been a cradle for several civilizations since prehistoric ages, with Neolithic settlements such as Catal Höyük (pottery neolithic), Cayönü (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to pottery Neolithic), Nevali Cori (PPN B), Hacilar (pottery neolithic), Göbekli Tepe (PPN A) and Mersin. The settlement of Troy starts in the Neolithic, but continues up into the Iron age.
Major civilizations and peoples that have settled in or conquered Anatolia include the Colchians, Hattians, Luwians, Hittites, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Lydians, Persians, Celts, Tabals, Meshechs, Greeks, Pelasgians, Armenians, Romans, Goths, Kurds, Byzantines, Seljuk Turks, and Ottomans. These peoples belonged to many varied ethnic and linguistic traditions. Through recorded history, Anatolians have spoken both Indo-European and Semitic languages, as well as many languages of uncertain affiliation. In fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical center from which the Indo-European languages have radiated. Other authors have proposed an Anatolian origin for the Etruscans of ancient Italy. Today the inhabitants of Anatolia are mostly native speakers of the Turkish language, which was introduced with the conquest of Anatolia by Turkic peoples and the rise of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century. However, Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century until the Rise of Nationalism under the Ottoman Empire. The Turks in Thrace were forced to leave their homes and settle in Anatolia during the Balkan Wars. The last population exchange, as result of the Treaty of Lausanne, between Turkey and Greece eliminated the majority of Turks in Greece and Greeks in Turkey. A significant Kurdish ethnic and linguistic minority exists in the south eastern regions.
States of Anatolia
Anatolia has been the center of many great states through out the history. The first state that is known was built by Hittites.| |
| States that existed over the Anatolia | ||
| Old Kingdom | Ionia | Sultanate of Rüm |
| New Kingdom | Roman Greece | Ottoman Empire |
| Neo-Hittite | Byzantium | Republic of Turkey |
| Urartu | Hellenistic Greece | |
Ottoman Rule of Asia Minor after 1885
After 1885, with the governing reforms of Tanzimat, the control of the Ottoman land in Asia Minor divided into 15 vilayets, one Sanjak and one mutersaflik of the vilayet of Constantinople (both being on the asiatic side of the Bosporus).Every vilayet was further divided in a number of sanjaks.
More specifically the political division of Asia Minor in 1915 was as follows;
- Vilayet of Izmir divided in the sanjaks of Manisa, Izmir, Aydin, Denizli, Mentese
- Independent vilayet of the Dardanelles
- Vilayet of Bursa divided in the sanjaks of Balikesir, Bursa, Erdogrul, Kutahya, Afyon
- Vilayet of Konya divided in the sanjaks of Burdur, Hamid abad, Atalya, Konya, Nigde
- Vilayet of Kastamonu divided in the sanjaks of Bolu, Cankiri, Kastamonu, Sinop
- Vilayet of Ankara divided in the sanjaks of Ankara, Kirsehir, Yozgat, Kayseri
- Vilayet of Adana, divided in the sanjaks of Icel(Mersin), Adana, Hozan, Jebel-i-Bereket
- Vilayet of Sivas divided in the sanjaks of Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, Karahisar-Sarki
- Vilayet of Trabzon divided in the sanjaks of Samsun, Trabzon, Argiropolis, Lazistan
- Vilayet of Erzerum
- Vilayet of Bitlis divided in the sanjaks of Mus, Ghen, Siirt
- Vilayet of Van divided in the sanjaks of Van, Hakkari
- Vilayet of Mosul divided in the sanjaks of Mosul, Sehrizan, Suleymanih
- Vilayet of Mamure-ul-Azil divided in the sanjak of Diyarbakir and the mutersaflik of Zor
- Vilayet of Halep divided in the sanjaks of Halep, Urfa, Maras
Ethnic distribution in Asia Minor in the early 20th century (before the Treaty of Lausanne)
Based on French Census files of 1915 the total population of Asia Minor (not including Eastern Thrace, the vilayets of the orient & the city of Constantinople) was 10,372,411 persons of all nationalities and religions.More specifically the distribution of differerent ethnic groups as per Vilayet and Sanjak is as follows;
| Sanjak or Vilayet \ | Greeks \ | Turks \ | Armenians \ | Rest \ | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanjak of Uskudar | 74,457 | 124,281 | 35,560 | 24,192 | 258,490 | |
| Mutersaflik of Izmit | 73,134 | 116,949 | 48,635 | 3,615 | 242,333 | |
| Vilayet of the Dardanelles | 32,830 | 138,902 | 2,336 | 177,894 | ||
| Vilayet of Izmir: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Izmir | 449,044 | 219,494 | 11,395 | 754,046 | ||
| Sanjak of Manisa | 83,625 | 247,778 | 3,960 | 337,925 | ||
| Sanjak of Aydin | 54,633 | 162,554 | 634 | 219,959 | ||
| Sanjak of Mentese | 27,798 | 197,317 | 430 | 205,457 | ||
| Sanjak of Denizli | 7,710 | 113,700 | 0 | 142,142 | ||
| Vilayet of Bursa: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Bursa | 82,503 | 215,492 | 50,809 | 353,976 | ||
| Sanjak of Balikesir | 150,946 | 194,391 | 17,882 | 239,236 | ||
| Sanjak of Kutahya | 16,800 | 244,698 | 5,040 | 250,938 | ||
| Sanjak of Afyon | 1,200 | 291,317 | 8,800 | 317,017 | ||
| Sanjak of Erdogrul (Bilecig) | 26,970 | 246,851 | 7,495 | 408,957 | ||
| Vilayet of Konya: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Konya | 8,589 | 294,191 | 6,900 | 325,180 | ||
| Sanjak of Atalya | 10,253 | 196,087 | 489 | 207,258 | ||
| Sanjak of Burdur | 2,565 | 149,968 | 987 | 153,565 | ||
| Sanjak of Nigde | 55,518 | 174,140 | 753 | 230,490 | ||
| Sanjak of Hamid Abad (Isparta) | 10,096 | 174,337 | 600 | 185,056 | ||
| Vilayet of Ankara: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Ankara | 3,154 | 265,283 | 14,019 | 283,043 | ||
| Sanjak of Kirsehir | 717 | 116,999 | 346 | 118,062 | ||
| Sanjak of Kayseri | 23,201 | 157,331 | 44,985 | 226,912 | ||
| Sanjak of Yozgat | 18,801 | 128,787 | 39,448 | 194,281 | ||
| Vilayet of Kastamonu: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Kastamonu | 10,783 | 334,337 | 1,424 | 346,552 | ||
| Sanjak of Sinop | 7,986 | 319,224 | 507 | 324,738 | ||
| Sanjak of Kankiri | 1,143 | 165,407 | 960 | 167,510 | ||
| Sanjak of Bolu | 5,007 | 119,467 | 314 | 129,846 | ||
| Vilayet of Sivas: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Sivas | 7,702 | 451,214 | 64,070 | 522,986 | ||
| Sanjak of Amasya | 36,739 | 198,000 | 50,600 | 285,339 | ||
| Sanjak of Karahisar-Sarki | 27,761 | 38,500 | 18,046 | 84,307 | ||
| Sanjak of Tokat | 27,174 | 151,800 | 37,919 | 216,893 | ||
| Vilayet of Trebzon: | ||||||
| Sanjak of Trabzon | 154,774 | 404,656 | 26,321 | 583,751 | ||
| Sanjak of Samsun (Djanik) | 136,087 | 233,454 | 22,585 | 392,126 | ||
| Sanjak of Lazistan | 2,924 | 231,885 | 0 | 234,809 | ||
| Sanjak of Argiropolis (Gumus-Haneh) | 59,748 | 87,871 | 1,718 | 149,337 | ||
See also
| Regions of the World | |
| Africa: | Central Africa | East Africa | Great Lakes | Guinea | Horn of Africa | North Africa | Maghreb / Northwest Africa | Sahel | Southern Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Sudan | West Africa |
| Americas: | Andean states | Caribbean | Central America | Great Lakes | Great Plains | Guianas | Latin America | North America | Patagonia | South America | Southern Cone |
| Asia: | Central Asia | East Asia | East Indies | Far East | Indian subcontinent | North Asia | Southeast Asia | Southwest Asia (Middle East / Near East, Levant, Anatolia, Arabia) |
| Europe: | Balkans | Baltic region | Benelux | British Isles | Central Europe | Eastern Europe | Northern Europe | Scandinavia | Southern Europe | Western Europe |
| Eurasia: | Caucasus | Mediterranean | Post-Soviet states |
| Oceania: | Australasia | Melanesia | Micronesia | Polynesia | Aleutian Islands | Pacific Rim |
| Polar': | Arctic | Antarctic |