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— CH. 1 · GEOGRAPHIC FOUNDATIONS AND BOUNDARIES —

Anatolia

~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
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  • The westernmost protrusion of Asia extends into the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Turkish Straits mark the northwestern limit, while the Black Sea defines the northern boundary. Topographically, the Sea of Marmara connects the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. This waterway separates Anatolia from Thrace in Southeast Europe. During the Last Glacial Maximum around 20,000 years ago, melting ice sheets caused sea levels to rise. This event triggered the formation of the Turkish Straits and connected two former lakes to the Mediterranean Sea. Traditional geographical definitions extend eastward to an indefinite line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This region is coterminous with the Anatolian Plateau. The eastern provinces are bounded by the Armenian Highlands and the Euphrates River before it bends southeast to enter Mesopotamia.

  • Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic period. Neolithic settlements include Çatalhöyük, Göbekli Tepe, and Nevali Cori. Çatalhöyük emerged around 7,000 BCE as one of the most advanced sites. Recent advances in archaeogenetics confirm that agriculture spread from the Middle East to Europe via migration of early farmers from Anatolia about 9,000 years ago. These Anatolian Neolithic farmers derived most of their ancestry from local hunter-gatherers. They subsequently spread across Europe as far west as the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles. Most modern Europeans derive a significant part of their ancestry from these Neolithic Anatolian farmers. Steppe ancestry remained absent in Anatolians until the Bronze Age. About 6,500 years ago, Anatolians became more genetically homogeneous due to eastern inflow. Neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, though linguists favor a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea.

  • Anatolia's historical records begin with clay tablets found at Kültepe around 2000 BC belonging to an Assyrian trade colony. The earliest historically attested populations were the Hattians in central Anatolia and Hurrians further to the east. The Hittite kingdom was a large state in Central Anatolia with its capital at Hattusa. It co-existed with Palaians and Luwians between 1700 and 1200 BC. Around 750 BC, Phrygia had been established with centers in Gordium and Kayseri. Urartu spoke a non-Indo-European language and its capital lay near Lake Van. In the late eighth century BC, Greek cities maintained familial connections to relatives on the mainland. By 900 BC, Greek settlements emerged across the west coast from Knidos to the Hellespont. Galatian, a Celtic language, was spoken throughout Galatia until the sixth century CE. Cyril of Scythopolis recorded that Galatian was still being spoken eight hundred years after the Galatians arrived in Asia Minor.

  • In 334 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the Anatolian peninsula from the Achaemenid Persian Empire. He restored democracy in the Greek cities and was greeted as a liberator. Following his death, Anatolia was ruled by Hellenistic kingdoms like the Attalids of Pergamum and the Seleucids. Local languages were supplanted by Greek by the first century BCE. In 133 BCE, the last Attalid king bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Republic. Mithridates VI Eupator, ruler of Pontus, waged war against Rome in 88 BCE to halt Roman hegemony. His wars ultimately failed, and Pompey annexed the Kingdom of Pontus. This brought all of Anatolia under Roman control except for the southeastern frontier with Parthia. The region became one of the wealthiest parts of the Later Roman Empire. Urban centers included Ephesus, Nicaea, and Sardis. Literary evidence about rural landscapes stems from Christian hagiographies written by Nicholas of Sion and Theodore of Sykeon during the sixth and seventh centuries CE.

  • The Byzantine period saw the height and eventual decline of Greek influence throughout the peninsula. The Battle of Manzikert occurred in 1071, enabling Seljuk Turks to establish a foothold in the region. Within ten years following that battle, Seljuk Turks migrated over large areas of Anatolia. Concentrations formed around the northwestern rim. The Turkish language and Islamic religion gradually replaced Christianity and Greek speech. Control split between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. Smyrna fell in 1330, and Philadelphia, the last Byzantine stronghold, fell in 1390. By the end of the fourteenth century, most of Anatolia was controlled by various Anatolian beyliks. Osman I minted coins in his own name in the 1320s bearing the legend Minted by Osman son of Ertugrul. This act signaled formal independence from Mongol Khans. The Ottomans completed the conquest of the peninsula in 1517 with the taking of Halicarnassus from the Knights of Saint John.

  • During World War I, the Armenian genocide, the Greek genocide, and the Assyrian genocide almost entirely removed ancient indigenous communities. Between 1894 and 1924, millions of non-Turkic peoples were killed or expelled. Estimates suggest about two million Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians died under Ottoman Turkish authorities. Following the Greco-Turkish War of 1919, 1922, most remaining ethnic Greeks were forced out during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Fewer than 5,000 Greeks remain in Anatolia today. According to Morris and Ze'evi, four million Christians were ethnically cleansed from Asia Minor by Turks from 1894 to 1924. Western Armenia was renamed the Eastern Anatolia region by the newly established Turkish government after the Armenian genocide. Richard Hovannisian described this changing of toponyms as necessary to obscure evidence of the Armenian presence. A continuous reverse migration occurred since the early nineteenth century when Greeks migrated toward the Kingdom of Greece and other regions.

  • Anatolia's terrain is structurally complex with a central massif wedged between folded mountain ranges converging in the east. True lowland is confined to narrow coastal strips along the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Black Sea coasts. The central plateau features a continental climate with hot summers and cold snowy winters. South and west coasts enjoy a typical Mediterranean climate with mild rainy winters and warm dry summers. The Black Sea and Marmara coasts have a temperate oceanic climate with foggy summers and much rainfall throughout the year. Ecoregions include the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests extending across northern Anatolia. Central Anatolian steppe covers drier valleys surrounding saline lakes like Lake Tuz. Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests occupy the Taurus Mountains. These mountains contain pine forests and mixed woodlands dominated by species such as Aleppo Pine and Cedar of Lebanon. The largest provinces aside from Istanbul include Ankara, İzmir, Bursa, Antalya, Konya, Adana, and Samsun. All these provinces have populations exceeding 500,000 people.

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Common questions

What is the geographical extent of Anatolia?

Anatolia extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west, with the Black Sea defining its northern boundary. The westernmost protrusion reaches into the Mediterranean while the Turkish Straits mark the northwestern limit.

When did human habitation begin in Anatolia?

Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic period. Neolithic settlements such as Çatalhöyük emerged around 7000 BCE as one of the most advanced sites.

Who conquered Anatolia in 334 BCE?

Alexander the Great conquered the Anatolian peninsula from the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 334 BCE. He restored democracy in the Greek cities and was greeted as a liberator by the local population.

Which year did the Battle of Manzikert occur?

The Battle of Manzikert occurred in 1071 enabling Seljuk Turks to establish a foothold in the region. Within ten years following that battle Seljuk Turks migrated over large areas of Anatolia.

How many Greeks remain in Anatolia today?

Fewer than 5000 Greeks remain in Anatolia today after the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Estimates suggest about two million Greeks died under Ottoman Turkish authorities between 1894 and 1924.

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All sources

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