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Anatolia

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Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

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 Çatalhöyük (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.

File:Asia Minor Ancient Map.jpg
Asia Minor in Antiquity

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;

Also the

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

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