Asia Minor lies east of the
Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
Anatolia (Greek: "Aνατολή" Αnatolē or Ανατολία Anatolía, Turkish: "Anadolu") is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey, as opposed to the European portion, Rumelia. In Greek it means "rising of the sun" or "East". The Turkish word Anadolu derives from the original Greek version. It also often called by the Latin name of Asia Minor.
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 Çatalhöyük (Pottery Neolithic), Çayönü (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to pottery Neolithic), Nevali Cori (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), Hacilar (Pottery Neolithic), Göbekli Tepe (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) and Mersin. The settlement of Troy starts in the Neolithic and continues forward 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 (see 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, while Armenians and Georgians have a significant presence in the northeast.
History
- Main article: History of Anatolia
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 Erzurum
- 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
Also the
See also
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia under GFDL
