Anatolia

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For other uses, see Anatolia (disambiguation).

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"Asian Turkey" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Turkey in Asia.

Anatolia

Native name: Anadolu, Άνατολή, Anatolya

AnatolieLimits.jpg

One definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey, excluding most of Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia
Region.[1][2] Other definitions are coterminous with Turkey's eastern and southern border.

Etymology "the East", from Greek

Geography

Location

Western Asia

Coordinates 39°N 35°ECoordinates: 39°N 35°E

Area 756,000 km2 (292,000 sq mi)[3]

(incl. Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia Region)

Administration

Turkey

Largest city Ankara (pop. 5,700,000[4])

Demographics

Demonym Anatolian

Languages Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Arabic, Greek, Aramaic, Kabardian, various others

Ethnic groups Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Arabs, Greeks, Assyrian people, Laz, various others

Additional information
Time zone

TRT (UTC+3)

The Library of Celsus in Ephesus was built by the Romans in 114–117.[5] The Temple of Artemis in
Ephesus, built by king Croesus of Lydia in the 6th century BCE, was one of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World.[6]

Anatolia,[a] also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost
protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is
bounded by the Turkish Straits to the northwest, the Black Sea to the north, the Armenian Highlands to
the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara
forms a connection between the Black and Aegean seas through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits
and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the Balkan peninsula of Southeast Europe.

The eastern border of Anatolia has been held to be a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the
Black Sea, bounded by the Armenian Highlands to the east and Mesopotamia to the southeast. By this
definition Anatolia comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. Today,
Anatolia is sometimes considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, thereby including the western
part of the Armenian Highlands and northern Mesopotamia;[7] its eastern and southern borders are
coterminous with Turkey's borders.[8][9][10]

The ancient Anatolian peoples spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages of the Indo-European
language family, which were largely replaced by the Greek language during the classical antiquity as well
as during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. The major Anatolian languages included Hittite,
Luwian, and Lydian, while other, poorly attested local languages included Phrygian and Mysian. Hurro-
Urartian languages were spoken in the southeastern kingdom of Mitanni, while Galatian, a Celtic
language, was spoken in Galatia, central Anatolia. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the rule of
the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century and it continued under the rule of the Ottoman Empire
between the late 13th and the early 20th century and it has continued under the rule of today's
Republic of Turkey. However, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in
Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Neo-Aramaic, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian and Greek. Other
ancient peoples in the region included Galatians, Hurrians, Assyrians, Hattians, Cimmerians, as well as
Ionian, Dorian, and Aeolic Greeks.
Contents

1 Geography

2 Etymology

3 Names

4 History

4.1 Prehistoric Anatolia

4.2 Ancient Anatolia

4.2.1 Hattians and Hurrians

4.2.2 Hittite Anatolia (18th–12th century BCE)

4.2.3 Post-Hittite Anatolia (12th–6th century BCE)

4.3 Classical Anatolia

4.4 Early Christian Period

4.5 Medieval Period

4.6 Ottoman Empire

4.7 Modern times

5 Geology

5.1 Climate

5.2 Ecoregions

6 Demographics

7 See also

8 Notes

9 References

9.1 Citations

9.2 Sources

10 Further reading
11 External links

Geography

Main article: Geography of Turkey

Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum, c. 20,000 years ago. Anatolia was connected to the European
mainland until c. 5600 BCE,[11][12][13] when the melting ice sheets caused the sea level in the
Mediterranean to rise around 120 m (390 ft),[12][13] triggering the formation of the Turkish Straits.[11]
[12][13] As a result, two former lakes (the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea)[11] were connected to the
Mediterranean Sea, which separated Anatolia from Europe.

Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to an indefinite line running from the Gulf of
Alexandretta to the Black Sea,[14] coterminous with the Anatolian Plateau. This traditional geographical
definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary.[1]
Under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates
before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia.[2] To the southeast, it is bounded by
the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria and the Mesopotamian plain.[2]

Following the Armenian genocide, Western Armenia was renamed the Eastern Anatolia Region by the
newly established Turkish government.[15][16] In 1941, with the First Geography Congress which
divided Turkey into seven geographical regions based on differences in climate and landscape, the
eastern provinces of Turkey were placed into the Eastern Anatolia Region,[17] which largely corresponds
to the historical region of Western Armenia (named as such after the division of Greater Armenia
between the Roman/Byzantine Empire (Western Armenia) and Sassanid Persia (Eastern Armenia) in 387
AD). Vazken Davidian terms the expanded use of "Anatolia" to apply to territory in eastern Turkey that
was formerly referred to as Armenia (which had a sizeable Armenian population before the Armenian
genocide) an "ahistorical imposition" and notes that a growing body of literature is uncomfortable with
referring to the Ottoman East as "Eastern Anatolia."[18][15][19]

Geographic overview (composite satellite image) of Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the Asian part of
modern Turkey.

The highest mountain in the Eastern Anatolia Region (also the highest peak in the Armenian Highlands)
is Mount Ararat (5123 m).[20] The Euphrates, Araxes, Karasu and Murat rivers connect the Armenian
Highlands to the South Caucasus and the Upper Euphrates Valley. Along with the Çoruh, these rivers are
the longest in the Eastern Anatolia Region.[21]
Etymology

Atlas of classical geography by Samuel Butler, published in 1907

The English-language name Anatolia derives from the Greek Ἀνατολή (Anatolḗ) meaning "the East" and
designating (from a Greek point of view) eastern regions in general. The Greek word refers to the
direction where the sun rises, coming from ἀνατέλλω anatello '(Ι) rise up,' comparable to terms in other
languages such as "levant" from Latin levo 'to rise,' "orient" from Latin orior 'to arise, to originate,'
Hebrew ‫ מִ ז ְָרח‬mizraḥ 'east' from ‫ ז ַָרח‬zaraḥ 'to rise, to shine,' Aramaic ‫ מִ דְ נָח‬midnaḥ from ‫ דְּ נַח‬denaḥ 'to
rise, to shine.'[22][23]

The use of Anatolian designations has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian,
Ionian and Dorian colonies situated along the eastern coasts of the Aegean Sea, but also encompassing
eastern regions in general. Such use of Anatolian designations was employed during the reign of Roman
Emperor Diocletian (284-305), who created the Diocese of the East, known in Greek as the Eastern
(Ανατολής / Anatolian) Diocese, but completely unrelated to the regions of Asia Minor. In their widest
territorial scope, Anatolian designations were employed during the reign of Roman Emperor
Constantine I (306-337), who created the Praetorian prefecture of the East, known in Greek as the
Eastern (Ανατολής / Anatolian) Prefecture, encompassing all eastern regions of the Late Roman Empire
and spaning from Thrace to Egypt.

Only after the loss of other eastern regions during the 7th century and the reduction of Byzantine
eastern domains to Asia Minor, that region became the only remaining part of the Byzantine East, and
thus commonly referred to (in Greek) as the Eastern (Ανατολής / Anatolian) part of the Empire. In the
same time, the Anatolic Theme (Ἀνατολικὸν θέμα / "the Eastern theme") was created, as a province
(theme) covering the western and central parts of Turkey's present-day Central Anatolia Region,
centered around Iconium, but ruled from the city of Amorium.[24][25]

The Latinized form "Anatolia," with its -ia ending, is probably a Medieval Latin innovation.[23] The
modern Turkish form Anadolu derives directly from the Greek name Aνατολή (Anatolḗ). The Russian
male name Anatoly, the French Anatole and plain Anatol, all stemming from saints Anatolius of Laodicea
(d. 283) and Anatolius of Constantinople (d. 458; the first Patriarch of Constantinople), share the same
linguistic origin.
Names

The Theatre of Hierapolis

The oldest known name for any region within Anatolia is related to its central area, known as the "Land
of Hatti" – a designation that was initially used for the land of ancient Hattians, but later became the
most common name for the entire territory under the rule of ancient Hittites.[26]

The first recorded name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula, though not particularly popular at
the time, was Ἀσία (Asía),[27] perhaps from an Akkadian expression for the "sunrise" or possibly echoing
the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia.[citation needed] The Romans used it as the name
of their province, comprising the west of the peninsula plus the nearby Aegean Islands. As the name
"Asia" broadened its scope to apply to the vaster region east of the Mediterranean, some Greeks in Late
Antiquity came to use the name Asia Minor (Μικρὰ Ἀσία, Mikrà Asía), meaning "Lesser Asia" to refer to
present-day Anatolia, whereas the administration of the Empire preferred the description Ἀνατολή
(Anatolḗ "the East").

The endonym Ῥωμανία (Rōmanía "the land of the Romans, i.e. the Eastern Roman Empire") was
understood as another name for the province by the invading Seljuq Turks, who founded a Sultanate of
Rûm in 1077. Thus (land of the) Rûm became another name for Anatolia. By the 12th century Europeans
had started referring to Anatolia as Turchia.[28]

The Sebasteion of Aphrodisias

During the era of the Ottoman Empire, mapmakers outside the Empire referred to the mountainous
plateau in eastern Anatolia as Armenia. Other contemporary sources called the same area Kurdistan.[29]
Geographers have variously used the terms East Anatolian Plateau and Armenian Plateau to refer to the
region, although the territory encompassed by each term largely overlaps with the other. According to
archaeologist Lori Khatchadourian, this difference in terminology "primarily result[s] from the shifting
political fortunes and cultural trajectories of the region since the nineteenth century."[30]

Turkey's First Geography Congress in 1941 created two geographical regions of Turkey to the east of the
Gulf of Iskenderun-Black Sea line, the Eastern Anatolia Region and the Southeastern Anatolia Region,
[31] the former largely corresponding to the western part of the Armenian Highlands, the latter to the
northern part of the Mesopotamian plain. According to Richard Hovannisian, this changing of toponyms
was "necessary to obscure all evidence" of the Armenian presence as part of the policy of Armenian
genocide denial embarked upon by the newly established Turkish government and what Hovannisian
calls its "foreign collaborators."[32]

Further information: Geographical name changes in Turkey

History

Main article: History of Anatolia

Prehistoric Anatolia

Mural of aurochs, a deer, and humans in Çatalhöyük, which is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic
site found to date. It was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.[33]

Main article: Prehistory of Anatolia

Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic.[34] Neolithic settlements include
Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori, Aşıklı Höyük, Boncuklu Höyük Hacilar, Göbekli Tepe, Norşuntepe, Kosk,
and Mersin. Çatalhöyük (7.000 BCE) is considered the most advanced of these.[citation needed]
Neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although
linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the
Anatolian languages, the earliest attested branch of Indo-European, have been spoken in Anatolia since
at least the 19th century BCE.[35][36]

Ancient Anatolia

One of the Alaca Höyük bronze standards from a pre-Hittite tomb dating to the third millennium BCE,
from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara.

The earliest historical data related to Anatolia appear during the Bronze Age and continue throughout
the Iron Age. The most ancient period in the history of Anatolia spans from the emergence of ancient
Hattians, up to the conquest of Anatolia by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE.

Hattians and Hurrians

Main articles: Hattians and Hurrians

The earliest historically attested populations of Anatolia were the Hattians in central Anatolia, and
Hurrians further to the east. The Hattians were an indigenous people, whose main center was the city of
Hattush. Affiliation of Hattian language remains unclear, while Hurrian language belongs to a distinctive
family of Hurro-Urartian languages. All of those languages are extinct; relationships with indigenous
languages of the Caucasus have been proposed,[37] but are not generally accepted. The region became
famous for exporting raw materials. Organized trade between Anatolia and Mesopotamia started to
emerge during the period of the Akkadian Empire, and was continued and intensified during the period
of the Old Assyrian Empire, between the 21st and the 18th centuries BCE. Assyrian traders were bringing
tin and textiles in exchange for copper, silver or gold. Cuneiform records, dated circa 20th century BCE,
found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, use an advanced system of trading computations and
credit lines.[38][39][40]

Hittite Anatolia (18th–12th century BCE)

The Sphinx Gate at Hattusha

Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East during the 14th century BCE

Main article: Hittites

Unlike the Akkadians and Assyrians, whose Anatolian trading posts were peripheral to their core lands in
Mesopotamia, the Hittites were centered at Hattusa (modern Boğazkale) in north-central Anatolia by
the 17th century BCE. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, or nesili
(the language of Nesa) in Hittite. The Hittites originated from local ancient cultures that grew in Anatolia,
in addition to the arrival of Indo-European languages. Attested for the first time in the Assyrian tablets
of Nesa around 2000 BCE, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BCE, imposing themselves over
Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the widely accepted Kurgan theory on the
Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites (along with the other Indo-European ancient
Anatolians) were themselves relatively recent immigrants to Anatolia from the north. However, they did
not necessarily displace the population genetically; they assimilated into the former peoples' culture,
preserving the Hittite language.

The Hittites adopted the Mesopotamian cuneiform script. In the Late Bronze Age, Hittite New Kingdom
(c. 1650 BCE) was founded, becoming an empire in the 14th century BCE after the conquest of
Kizzuwatna in the south-east and the defeat of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. The empire
reached its height in the 13th century BCE, controlling much of Asia Minor, northwestern Syria, and
northwest upper Mesopotamia. However, the Hittite advance toward the Black Sea coast was halted by
the semi-nomadic pastoralist and tribal Kaskians, a non-Indo-European people who had earlier displaced
the Palaic-speaking Indo-Europeans.[41] Much of the history of the Hittite Empire concerned war with
the rival empires of Egypt, Assyria and the Mitanni.[42]

The Egyptians eventually withdrew from the region after failing to gain the upper hand over the Hittites
and becoming wary of the power of Assyria, which had destroyed the Mitanni Empire.[42] The Assyrians
and Hittites were then left to battle over control of eastern and southern Anatolia and colonial
territories in Syria. The Assyrians had better success than the Egyptians, annexing much Hittite (and
Hurrian) territory in these regions.[43]

Post-Hittite Anatolia (12th–6th century BCE)

Lycian rock cut tombs of Kaunos (Dalyan)

Ancient Greek Theater in Miletus

After 1180 BCE, during the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Hittite empire disintegrated into several
independent Syro-Hittite states, subsequent to losing much territory to the Middle Assyrian Empire and
being finally overrun by the Phrygians, another Indo-European people who are believed to have
migrated from the Balkans. The Phrygian expansion into southeast Anatolia was eventually halted by the
Assyrians, who controlled that region.[43]

Luwians

Another Indo-European people, the Luwians, rose to prominence in central and western Anatolia circa
2000 BCE. Their language belonged to the same linguistic branch as Hittite.[44] The general consensus
amongst scholars is that Luwian was spoken across a large area of western Anatolia, including (possibly)
Wilusa (Troy), the Seha River Land (to be identified with the Hermos and/or Kaikos valley), and the
kingdom of Mira-Kuwaliya with its core territory of the Maeander valley.[45] From the 9th century BCE,
Luwian regions coalesced into a number of states such as Lydia, Caria, and Lycia, all of which had
Hellenic influence.

Arameans
Arameans encroached over the borders of south-central Anatolia in the century or so after the fall of the
Hittite empire, and some of the Syro-Hittite states in this region became an amalgam of Hittites and
Arameans. These became known as Syro-Hittite states.

Neo-Assyrian Empire

From the 10th to late 7th centuries BCE, much of Anatolia (particularly the southeastern regions) fell to
the Neo-Assyrian Empire, including all of the Syro-Hittite states, Tabal, Kingdom of Commagene, the
Cimmerians and Scythians and swathes of Cappadocia.

The Neo-Assyrian empire collapsed due to a bitter series of civil wars followed by a combined attack by
Medes, Persians, Scythians and their own Babylonian relations. The last Assyrian city to fall was Harran
in southeast Anatolia. This city was the birthplace of the last king of Babylon, the Assyrian Nabonidus
and his son and regent Belshazzar. Much of the region then fell to the short-lived Iran-based Median
Empire, with the Babylonians and Scythians briefly appropriating some territory.

Cimmerian and Scythian invasions

From the late 8th century BCE, a new wave of Indo-European-speaking raiders entered northern and
northeast Anatolia: the Cimmerians and Scythians. The Cimmerians overran Phrygia and the Scythians
threatened to do the same to Urartu and Lydia, before both were finally checked by the Assyrians.

Early Greek presence

Aphrodisias was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 2017

The north-western coast of Anatolia was inhabited by Greeks of the Achaean/Mycenaean culture from
the 20th century BCE, related to the Greeks of southeastern Europe and the Aegean.[46] Beginning with
the Bronze Age collapse at the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, the west coast of Anatolia was settled by
Ionian Greeks, usurping the area of the related but earlier Mycenaean Greeks. Over several centuries,
numerous Ancient Greek city-states were established on the coasts of Anatolia. Greeks started Western
philosophy on the western coast of Anatolia (Pre-Socratic philosophy).[46]

Classical Anatolia
Asia Minor in the early 2nd century AD. The Roman provinces under Trajan.

The temple of Athena (funded by Alexander the Great) in the ancient Greek city of Priene

In classical antiquity, Anatolia was described by Herodotus and later historians as divided into regions
that were diverse in culture, language and religious practices.[47] The northern regions included
Bithynia, Paphlagonia and Pontus; to the west were Mysia, Lydia and Caria; and Lycia, Pamphylia and
Cilicia belonged to the southern shore. There were also several inland regions: Phrygia, Cappadocia,
Pisidia and Galatia.[47] Languages spoken included the late surviving Anatolic languages Isaurian[48] and
Pisidian, Greek in Western and coastal regions, Phrygian spoken until the 7th century CE,[49] local
variants of Thracian in the Northwest, the Galatian variant of Gaulish in Galatia until the 6th century CE,
[50][51][52] Cappadocian[53] and Armenian in the East, and Kartvelian languages in the Northeast.

The Dying Galatian was a famous statue commissioned some time between 230–220 BC by King Attalos I
of Pergamon to honor his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia.

Anatolia is known as the birthplace of minted coinage (as opposed to unminted coinage, which first
appears in Mesopotamia at a much earlier date) as a medium of exchange, some time in the 7th century
BCE in Lydia. The use of minted coins continued to flourish during the Greek and Roman eras.[54][55]

During the 6th century BCE, all of Anatolia was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the
Persians having usurped the Medes as the dominant dynasty in Iran. In 499 BCE, the Ionian city-states
on the west coast of Anatolia rebelled against Persian rule. The Ionian Revolt, as it became known,
though quelled, initiated the Greco-Persian Wars, which ended in a Greek victory in 449 BCE, and the
Ionian cities regained their independence. By the Peace of Antalcidas (387 BCE), which ended the
Corinthian War, Persia regained control over Ionia.[56][57]

In 334 BCE, the Macedonian Greek king Alexander the Great conquered the peninsula from the
Achaemenid Persian Empire.[58] Alexander's conquest opened up the interior of Asia Minor to Greek
settlement and influence.

Following the death of Alexander and the breakup of his empire, Anatolia was ruled by a series of
Hellenistic kingdoms, such as the Attalids of Pergamum and the Seleucids, the latter controlling most of
Anatolia. A period of peaceful Hellenization followed, such that the local Anatolian languages had been
supplanted by Greek by the 1st century BC. In 133 BCE the last Attalid king bequeathed his kingdom to
the Roman Republic, and western and central Anatolia came under Roman control, but Hellenistic
culture remained predominant. Further annexations by Rome, in particular of the Kingdom of Pontus by
Pompey, brought all of Anatolia under Roman control, except for the eastern frontier with the Parthian
Empire, which remained unstable for centuries, causing a series of wars, culminating in the Roman-
Parthian Wars.

Early Christian Period

The 'terrace houses' at Ephesus, showing how the wealthy lived during the Roman period.

Sanctuary of Commagene Kings on Mount Nemrut (1st century BCE)

After the division of the Roman Empire, Anatolia became part of the East Roman, or Byzantine Empire.
Anatolia was one of the first places where Christianity spread, so that by the 4th century CE, western
and central Anatolia were overwhelmingly Christian and Greek-speaking. For the next 600 years, while
Imperial possessions in Europe were subjected to barbarian invasions, Anatolia would be the center of
the Hellenic world.[citation needed]

It was one of the wealthiest and most densely populated places in the Late Roman Empire. Anatolia's
wealth grew during the 4th and 5th centuries thanks, in part, to the Pilgrim's Road that ran through the
peninsula. Literary evidence about the rural landscape stems from the hagiographies of 6th century
Nicholas of Sion and 7th century Theodore of Sykeon. Large urban centers included Ephesus, Pergamum,
Sardis and Aphrodisias. Scholars continue to debate the cause of urban decline in the 6th and 7th
centuries variously attributing it to the Plague of Justinian (541), and the 7th century Persian incursion
and Arab conquest of the Levant.[59]

In the ninth and tenth century a resurgent Byzantine Empire regained its lost territories, including even
long lost territory such as Armenia and Syria (ancient Aram).[citation needed]

Medieval Period
Byzantine Anatolia and the Byzantine-Arab frontier zone in the mid-9th century

A map of the independent Turkish beyliks in Anatolia during the 14th century.

In the 10 years following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia migrated
over large areas of Anatolia, with particular concentrations around the northwestern rim.[60] The
Turkish language and the Islamic religion were gradually introduced as a result of the Seljuk conquest,
and this period marks the start of Anatolia's slow transition from predominantly Christian and Greek-
speaking, to predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking (although ethnic groups such as Armenians,
Greeks, and Assyrians remained numerous and retained Christianity and their native languages). In the
following century, the Byzantines managed to reassert their control in western and northern Anatolia.
Control of Anatolia was then split between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, with
the Byzantine holdings gradually being reduced.[61]

In 1255, the Mongols swept through eastern and central Anatolia, and would remain until 1335. The
Ilkhanate garrison was stationed near Ankara.[61][62] After the decline of the Ilkhanate from 1335 to
1353, the Mongol Empire's legacy in the region was the Uyghur Eretna Dynasty that was overthrown by
Kadi Burhan al-Din in 1381.[63]

By the end of the 14th century, most of Anatolia was controlled by various Anatolian beyliks. Smyrna fell
in 1330, and the last Byzantine stronghold in Anatolia, Philadelphia, fell in 1390. The Turkmen Beyliks
were under the control of the Mongols, at least nominally, through declining Seljuk sultans.[64][65] The
Beyliks did not mint coins in the names of their own leaders while they remained under the suzerainty of
the Mongol Ilkhanids.[66] The Osmanli ruler Osman I was the first Turkish ruler who minted coins in his
own name in 1320s; they bear the legend "Minted by Osman son of Ertugrul".[67] Since the minting of
coins was a prerogative accorded in Islamic practice only to a sovereign, it can be considered that the
Osmanli, or Ottoman Turks, had become formally independent from the Mongol Khans.[68]

Ottoman Empire

Civil architecture of Safranbolu is an example of Ottoman Architecture

Among the Turkish leaders, the Ottomans emerged as great power under Osman I and his son Orhan I.
[69][70] The Anatolian beyliks were successively absorbed into the rising Ottoman Empire during the
15th century.[71] It is not well understood how the Osmanlı, or Ottoman Turks, came to dominate their
neighbours, as the history of medieval Anatolia is still little known.[72] The Ottomans completed the
conquest of the peninsula in 1517 with the taking of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum) from the Knights of
Saint John.[73]

Modern times

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Ethnographic map of Anatolia from 1911.

With the acceleration of the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, and as a result of
the expansionist policies of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, many Muslim nations and groups in that
region, mainly Circassians, Tatars, Azeris, Lezgis, Chechens and several Turkic groups left their
homelands and settled in Anatolia. As the Ottoman Empire further shrank in the Balkan regions and then
fragmented during the Balkan Wars, much of the non-Christian populations of its former possessions,
mainly Balkan Muslims (Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, Turks, Muslim Bulgarians and Greek Muslims such
as the Vallahades from Greek Macedonia), were resettled in various parts of Anatolia, mostly in formerly
Christian villages throughout Anatolia.

A continuous reverse migration occurred since the early 19th century, when Greeks from Anatolia,
Constantinople and Pontus area migrated toward the newly independent Kingdom of Greece, and also
towards the United States, the southern part of the Russian Empire, Latin America, and the rest of
Europe.

Following the Russo-Persian Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) and the incorporation of Eastern Armenia
into the Russian Empire, another migration involved the large Armenian population of Anatolia, which
recorded significant migration rates from Western Armenia (Eastern Anatolia) toward the Russian
Empire, especially toward its newly established Armenian provinces.

Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century (see the rise of nationalism under the
Ottoman Empire). During World War I, the Armenian genocide, the Greek genocide (especially in
Pontus), and the Assyrian genocide almost entirely removed the ancient indigenous communities of
Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian populations in Anatolia and surrounding regions. Following the Greco-
Turkish War of 1919–1922, most remaining ethnic Anatolian Greeks were forced out during the 1923
population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Of the remainder, most have left Turkey since then,
leaving fewer than 5,000 Greeks in Anatolia today.