Editing Anatolia

{{Short description|Peninsula of Turkey in Western Asia}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Asia Minor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox islands
| name               = Anatolia<br />{{small|Asia Minor}}
| local_name         = {{nobold|{{lang|tr|Anadolu}} ([[Turkish language|Turkish]])}}
| image_name         = Anatolia composite NASA.png
| image_caption      = Satellite imagery centred on Anatolia, which accounts for the bulk of modern-day [[Turkey]]
| image_map          = Map of the geographic region of Anatolia.png
| image_map_caption  = Map of Anatolia (dark green), which according to one definition is delineated by an imprecise line from the [[Gulf of Alexandretta]] to the [[Black Sea]].<ref name=Merriam>{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-87779-546-9 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Co_VIPIJerIC&q=anatolia+geographical+dictionary&pg=PA883 |access-date=18 May 2001 |last1=Hopkins |first1=Daniel J. |last2=Staff |first2=Merriam-Webster |author3=편집부 |publisher=Merriam-Webster |archive-date=28 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128204112/https://books.google.com/books?id=Co_VIPIJerIC&q=anatolia+geographical+dictionary&pg=PA883 |url-status=live |quote=Anatolia: The part of Turkey in Asia equivalent to the peninsula of Asia Minor up to indefinite line on E from Gulf of Iskenderun to Black Sea comprising about three fifths of Turkey's provinces}}</ref> According to another definition, it is coterminous with the Asian part of Turkey.<ref name=anatolia_definition>
* {{harvnb|McColl|2014|p=922}}: "Thrace, its European area, is about the size of VERMONT at 9,412 square mi (24,378 square km). Its Asian area (Asia Minor) is called Anatolia and covers 291,971 square mi (756,202 square km)"
* {{harvnb|Cohen|2008|p=125}}: "Anatolia, [Gr.=sunrise], Asiatic part of Turkey; its area covers 97% of all Turkey"
* {{harvnb|Tockner|Uehlinger|Robinson|2009|location=Chapter 17}}: "About 97% of the country is in Asia Minor (Anatolia) and 3% in Europe (Thrace)"
* {{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/turkey-turkiye/#geography |title=Turkey |work=[[The World Factbook]] |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |access-date=20 February 2024}}: "the 97% of the country in Asia is referred to as Anatolia"
* {{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatolia |title=Anatolia |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |access-date=29 February 2024}}: "Anatolia, the peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey"
* {{harvnb|Steadman|McMahon|2011|p=466}}
* {{harvnb|Howard|2016|p=7}}
* {{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/turkey/18.htm |editor=Helen Chapin Metz |title=Turkey: A Country Study &#124; Geography |year=1995 |location=Washington |publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress |access-date=31 May 2024}}: "The Asian part of the country is known by a variety of names--Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey, the Anatolian Plateau, and Anatolia (Anadolu)"</ref>
| coordinates        = {{coord|39|N|35|E|type:country|display=inline,title}}
| etymology          = "The East" (from {{langx|grc|Ἀνατολή|label=[[Ancient Greek|Greek]]}}, {{transliteration|grc|Anatolḗ}})
| location           = [[West Asia]]
| island_type        = [[Peninsula]]
| area_km2           = 537,886
| area_footnotes     = <ref>{{cite book |author1=Stephen Mitchell |title=Anatolia: land, men, and Gods in Asia Minor |date=1995-07-06 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0198150296 |url=https://libunix.ku.edu.tr/search~S9/?searchtype=t&searcharg=Anatolia%3A+Land%2C+Men%2C+and+Gods+in+Asia+Minor&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBMIT=Search&searchlimits=&searchorigarg=tAnatolian+Civilizations+and+Antique+Cities+of+Turkey |volume=2 }}</ref>
| country_capital_and_largest_city = [[Ankara]]
| country_largest_city_population = 5,803,482
| demonym            = Anatolian
| population         = 
| languages          = {{vunblist
| Predominantly [[Turkish language|Turkish]]<ref>
* {{harvnb|KONDA|2006|p=19}}
* {{harvnb|Comrie|2018|p=537}}</ref>}} {{collapsible list |title=Others:|[[Kurmanji|Kurdish]]|[[Zaza language|Zaza]]|[[Arabic]]|[[Circassian languages|Circassian]]|[[Laz language|Laz]]|[[Greek language|Greek]]|[[Armenian language|Armenian]]|[[Albanian language|Albanian]]|[[Bosnian language|Bosnian]]|[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]|[[Languages of Turkey|Other languages]]}}
| ethnic_groups      = {{Plainlist|
*Majority: [[Turkish people|Turks]]<ref name=World_Factbook_People>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/turkey-turkiye/#people-and-society |title=Turkey (Turkiye) |work=[[The World Factbook]] |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |access-date=9 October 2024}}</ref><ref name="KONDA 2006 17">{{harvnb|KONDA|2006|p=17}}</ref> 
*Minority: [[Kurds in Turkey|Kurds]] and [[Minorities in Turkey|other peoples]]<ref name=World_Factbook_People/><ref name="KONDA 2006 17"/>}}
| timezone1          = [[Time in Turkey|TRT]]
| utc_offset1        = +03:00
}}

'''Anatolia''' ({{langx|tr|Anadolu}}), also known as '''Asia Minor''',{{efn|Additional alternative names include '''Asian/Asiatic Turkey''', the '''Anatolian Peninsula''', and the '''Anatolian Plateau'''.}} is a peninsula in [[West Asia]] that makes up the majority of the land area of [[Turkey]]. It is the westernmost protrusion of [[Asia]] and is geographically bounded by the [[Mediterranean Sea]] to the south, the [[Aegean Sea]] to the west, the [[Turkish Straits]] to the northwest, and the [[Black Sea]] to the north. The eastern and southeastern limits have been expanded either to the entirety of Asiatic Turkey<ref name="anatolia_definition" /> or to an imprecise line from the [[Black Sea]] to the [[Gulf of Alexandretta]].<ref name="Merriam" /> Topographically, the [[Sea of Marmara]] connects the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea through the [[Bosporus]] and the [[Dardanelles]], and separates Anatolia from [[Thrace]] in [[Southeast Europe]].

During the [[Neolithic]], Anatolia was an early centre for the [[development of farming]] after it originated in the adjacent [[Fertile Crescent]]. Beginning around 9,000 years ago, there was a major migration of [[Anatolian Neolithic Farmers]] into [[Neolithic Europe|Europe]], with their descendants coming to dominate the continent as far west as the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and the [[British Isles]].

The [[List of ancient peoples of Anatolia|earliest recorded inhabitants of Anatolia]], who were neither [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] nor [[Semitic languages|Semitic]], were gradually absorbed by the incoming Indo-European [[Anatolian peoples]], who spoke the now-extinct [[Anatolian languages]]. The major Anatolian languages included [[Hittite language|Hittite]], [[Luwian language|Luwian]], and [[Lydian language|Lydian]]; other local languages, albeit poorly attested, included [[Phrygian language|Phrygian]] and [[Mysian language|Mysian]]. The [[Hurro-Urartian languages]] were spoken throughout [[Mitanni]] in the southeast, while [[Galatian language|Galatian]], a [[Celtic languages|Celtic language]], was spoken throughout [[Galatia]] in the central peninsula. Among the other peoples who established a significant presence in [[Prehistory of Anatolia|ancient Anatolia]] were the [[Galatians (people)|Galatians]], the [[Hurrians]], the [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], the [[Armenians]], the [[Hattians]], and the [[Cimmerians]], as well as some of the [[List of ancient Greek tribes|ancient Greek tribes]], including the [[Ionians]], the [[Dorians]], and the [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolian]]s. In the era of [[classical antiquity]] (see [[Classical Anatolia]]), the Anatolian languages were largely replaced by the [[Greek language]], which came to further dominate the region during the [[Hellenistic period]] and the [[Roman Empire|Roman period]].

The [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]] saw the decline of Greek influence throughout the peninsula as the [[Byzantine–Seljuk wars]] enabled the incoming [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk Turks]] to establish a foothold in the region. Thus, the process of Anatolia's [[Turkification]] began under the [[Seljuk Empire]] in the late 11th century and continued under the [[Ottoman Empire]] until the early 20th century, when the [[Ottoman dynasty]] collapsed in the [[Aftermath of World War I#Ottoman Empire|aftermath of World War I]]. Between 1894 and 1924, millions of non-[[Turkic peoples]] and [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Christians]] were suppressed and [[Late Ottoman genocides|removed by the Ottoman Turkish authorities]] from the bulk of the area of modern-day Turkey. Nonetheless, a variety of non-[[Turkic languages]] continue to be spoken by ethnic minorities in Anatolia today, including [[Arabic]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic|Neo-Aramaic]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], the [[North Caucasian languages]], [[Laz language|Laz]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], and Greek.

==Geography==
{{Main|Geography of Turkey}}

[[File:Weichsel-Würm-Glaciation.png|thumb|right|Europe during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]], c. 20,000 years ago. Anatolia was connected to the European mainland until {{Circa|5600 BCE}},<ref name="Black Sea Deluge">{{cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deluge-NASA.png|title=Illustration of the Lake (later Sea) of Marmara and the formation of the Turkish Straits after the Black Sea deluge|website=www.ncdc.noaa.gov|date=26 January 2014|access-date=22 May 2021|archive-date=31 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831144627/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deluge-NASA.png|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dimitrov1">Dimitrov P., 2003. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284602641_The_Black_Sea_-_a_Clue_to_the_Secret_of_World_Flood "The Black Sea – a Clue to the Secret of World Flood"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521201345/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284602641_The_Black_Sea_-_a_Clue_to_the_Secret_of_World_Flood |date=21 May 2021 }}. ''Oceanology'', 4, 52–57.</ref><ref name="Dimitrov2">Dimitrov P., D. Dimitrov. 2004. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290938137_The_Black_Sea_The_Flood_and_the_ancient_myths The Black Sea The Flood and the ancient myths]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515095644/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290938137_The_Black_Sea_The_Flood_and_the_ancient_myths |date=15 May 2021 }}. "Slavena", Varna, {{ISBN|954579335X}}, 91 pp., {{doi|10.13140/RG.2.2.18954.16327}}.</ref> when the melting [[ice sheet]]s caused the [[sea level]] in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] to rise around {{convert|120|m|-1|abbr=on}},<ref name="Dimitrov1"/><ref name="Dimitrov2"/> triggering the formation of the [[Turkish Straits]].<ref name="Black Sea Deluge"/><ref name="Dimitrov1"/><ref name="Dimitrov2"/> As a result, two former [[lake]]s (the [[Sea of Marmara]] and the [[Black Sea]])<ref name="Black Sea Deluge"/> 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]],<ref name="Niewohner2017">{{cite book|author=Philipp Niewohner|title=The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia: From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cAUmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190610470|pages=18–|access-date=7 December 2018|archive-date=11 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311111958/https://books.google.com/books?id=cAUmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|url-status=live}}</ref> coterminous with the [[Anatolian Plateau]]. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of ''[[Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary]]''.<ref name="Merriam" /> 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]].<ref name="Mitchell">Stephen Mitchell (1995). ''Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor. The Celts in Anatolia and the impact of Roman rule''. Clarendon Press, 266 pp. {{ISBN|978-0198150299}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=pUYtwuve40kC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329114033/https://books.google.com/books?id=pUYtwuve40kC|date=29 March 2017}}</ref> To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the [[Orontes River|Orontes]] valley in [[Syria (region)|Syria]] and the Mesopotamian plain.<ref name="Mitchell"/>

Following the [[Armenian genocide]], [[Western Armenia]] [[Eastern Anatolia Region#Substitution with Armenia|was renamed]] the [[Eastern Anatolia region]] by the newly established Turkish government.<ref name="Sahakyan">{{cite book|last=Sahakyan|first=Lusine|title=Turkification of the Toponyms in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey|year=2010|publisher=Arod Books|location=Montreal|isbn=978-0969987970}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Hovannisian |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3monyE4CVQC |title=The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies |date=2007 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1412835923 |location=New Brunswick, NJ |page=3 |access-date=10 September 2015 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010030024/https://books.google.com/books?id=K3monyE4CVQC |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1941, with the [[First Geography Congress, Turkey|First Geography Congress]] which divided Turkey into [[geographical regions of Turkey|seven geographical regions]] based on differences in climate and landscape, the eastern [[provinces of Turkey]] were placed into the Eastern Anatolia region,<ref>[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2167/irgee216.0 A Comparative Analysis Regarding Pictures Included in Secondary School Geography Textbooks Taught in Turkey]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413141440/http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2167/irgee216.0 |date=13 April 2015 }}, Okan Yasar and Mehmet Seremet, ''International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education'', 2007.</ref> which largely corresponds to the historical region of [[Western Armenia]]. 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 [[Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|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".<ref>Vazken Khatchig Davidian, "Imagining Ottoman Armenia: Realism and Allegory in Garabed Nichanian's Provincial Wedding in Moush and Late Ottoman Art Criticism", p.&nbsp;7 & footnote 34, in ''Études arméniennes contemporaines'' volume 6, 2015.</ref><ref name="Sahakyan"/><ref name=":0" />

The highest mountain in the Eastern Anatolia region (also the highest peak in the [[Armenian Highlands]]) is [[Mount Ararat]] (5123&nbsp;m).<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 42| issue = 2| pages = 143–149| last1 = Fevzi Özgökçe| last2 = Kit Tan| last3 = Vladimir Stevanović| title = A new subspecies of Silene acaulis (Caryophyllaceae) from East Anatolia, Turkey| journal = Annales Botanici Fennici|year = 2005| jstor = 23726860}}</ref> The [[Euphrates]], [[Aras (river)|Aras]], [[Karasu (Euphrates)|Karasu]] and [[Murat river]]s 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.<ref name=palumbi>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0009| last = Palumbi| first = Giulio| title = The Chalcolithic of Eastern Anatolia| journal = The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia| volume = 1| access-date = 6 May 2018| date = 5 September 2011| url = http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195376142-e-9| editor1-last = McMahon| editor1-first = Gregory| editor2-last = Steadman| editor2-first = Sharon| archive-date = 12 May 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180512155433/http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195376142-e-9| url-status = live}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The English-language name ''Anatolia'' derives from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|Ἀνατολή}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|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 {{lang|grc|ἀνατέλλω}} ''anatello'' '(Ι) rise up', comparable to terms in other languages such as "[[levant]]" from Latin {{Lang|la|levo}} 'to rise', "[[orient]]" from Latin {{Lang|la|orior}} 'to arise, to originate', [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{Lang|he|מִזְרָח}} ''mizraḥ'' 'east' from {{Lang|he|זָרַח}} ''zaraḥ'' 'to rise, to shine', [[Aramaic]] {{Lang|arc|מִדְנָח}} ''midnaḥ'' from {{Lang|arc|דְּנַח}} ''denaḥ'' 'to rise, to shine'.<ref name="etym">{{cite web |url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%237638 |author= Henry George Liddell |author2= Robert Scott |title=ἀνατολή |website= A Greek-English Lexicon |access-date= 20 February 2021 |archive-date= 26 May 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070526063014/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%237638 |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name="OED">{{Cite web |title=Anatolia &#124; Origin and meaning of the name Anatolia  |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/anatolia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713102500/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Anatolia |archive-date=13 July 2017 |access-date=14 May 2021 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |language=en-US}}</ref>

The use of Anatolian designations has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the [[Aeolians|Aeolian]], [[Ionians|Ionian]] and [[Dorians|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]] ({{Reign|284|305}}), who created the [[Diocese of the East]], known in Greek as the Eastern 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&nbsp;I]] (306–337), who created the [[Praetorian prefecture of the East]], known in Greek as the Eastern Prefecture, encompassing all eastern regions of the [[Late Roman Empire]] and spanning from [[Diocese of Thrace|Thrace]] to [[Diocese of Egypt|Egypt]].

Only after the loss of other eastern regions during the 7th century and the reduction of [[Byzantine Empire|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 part of the Empire. At the same time, the [[Anatolic Theme]] ({{lang|grc|Ἀνατολικὸν θέμα}} / "the Eastern theme") was created, as a province (''[[Theme (Byzantine district)|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]].<ref name="First Thema 1952, p. 59">"On the First Thema, called Anatolikón. This theme is called Anatolikón or Theme of the Anatolics, not because it is above and in the direction of the east where the sun rises, but because it lies to the East of Byzantium and Europe." [[Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus]], ''De Thematibus'', ed. A.&nbsp;Pertusi. Vatican: [[Vatican Library]], 1952, pp.&nbsp;59&nbsp;ff.</ref><ref name="John Haldon 2002. Page 32">John Haldon, ''Byzantium, a History'', 2002, p.&nbsp;32.</ref>

The Latinized form "{{Lang|la-x-medieval|Anatolia|italic=no}}", with its ''-ia'' ending, is probably a [[Medieval Latin]] innovation.<ref name=OED /> The modern Turkish form {{Lang|tr|Anadolu}} derives directly from the Greek name {{lang|el|Aνατολή}} (''Anatolḗ''). The Russian male name [[Anatoly]], the French [[Anatole (given name)|Anatole]] and plain [[Anatol]], all stemming from saints [[Anatolius of Laodicea]] (d.&nbsp;283) and [[Anatolius of Constantinople]] (d.&nbsp;458; the first [[Patriarch of Constantinople]]), share the same linguistic origin.

== Names ==
{{Further|Place name changes in Turkey}}

The oldest known name for any region within Anatolia is related to its central area, known as the "Land of [[Hatti (land of the Hattians)|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]].{{sfn|Bryce|2009|pp=297–98}}

The first recorded name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula, though not particularly popular at the time, was [[:wikt:Ἀσία|Ἀσία]] (''Asía''),<ref>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*%29asi%2Fa Ἀσία]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427042823/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*%29asi%2Fa |date=27 April 2011 }}, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus.</ref> perhaps from an Akkadian expression for the "sunrise" or possibly echoing the name of the [[Assuwa league]] in western Anatolia.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} The Romans used it as the name of their [[Asia (Roman province)|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''; {{lit|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''.<ref name=oxfordreference>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0191866326| last = Everett-Heath| first = John| title = The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names| volume = 1| chapter = Anatolia| access-date = 5 December 2018| year = 2018| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191866326.001.0001/acref-9780191866326-e-258| doi = 10.1093/acref/9780191866326.001.0001| archive-date = 6 December 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181206102228/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191866326.001.0001/acref-9780191866326-e-258| url-status = live}}</ref>

During the era of the [[Ottoman Empire]], many mapmakers referred to the mountainous plateau in eastern Anatolia as [[Armenia]]. Other contemporary sources called the same area [[Kurdistan]].<ref name=suny>{{Cite book| publisher = Princeton University Press| isbn = 978-1400865581| last = Suny| first = Ronald Grigor| title = 'They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else': A History of the Armenian Genocide| year=2015|page=31}}</ref> Geographers have used ''[[East Anatolian plateau]]'', ''[[Armenian plateau]]'' and the ''[[Iranian plateau]]'' to refer to the region; the former two largely overlap.<ref name=Oxford_Handbook_p466>{{harvnb|Steadman|McMahon|2011|p=466}}</ref> While a standard definition of Anatolia refers to the entire Asian side of Turkey, 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".<ref name=Oxford_Handbook_p466/>

Turkey's [[First Geography Congress, Turkey|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]],<ref name="Yigit">Ali Yiğit, "Geçmişten Günümüze Türkiye'yi Bölgelere Ayıran Çalışmalar ve Yapılması Gerekenler", ''Ankara Üniversitesi Türkiye Coğrafyası Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi, IV. Ulural Coğrafya Sempozyumu, "Avrupa Birliği Sürecindeki Türkiye'de Bölgesel Farklılıklar"'', [http://www.fka.org.tr/SayfaDownload/bildiri_nihan_atay.pdf pp.&nbsp;34–35]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109013737/http://www.fka.org.tr/SayfaDownload/bildiri_nihan_atay.pdf |date=9 November 2013 }}.</ref> 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 G. Hovannisian|Richard Hovannisian]], this changing of toponyms was "necessary to obscure all evidence" of the [[Armenians|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".<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Wayne State University Press| isbn = 978-0814327777| last = Hovannisian| first = Richard G.| title = Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide| date = 1998| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kiBHkRtRmIIC&pg=PA204| access-date = 5 December 2018| archive-date = 10 March 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200310025218/https://books.google.com/books?id=kiBHkRtRmIIC&pg=PA204| url-status = live}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Anatolia}}

===Prehistoric Anatolia===
[[File:Göbeklitepe_Şanlıurfa.jpg|thumb|The [[henge]]s in [[Göbekli Tepe]] were erected as far back as 9600 BC.]]
{{main|Prehistory of Anatolia}}

Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the [[Paleolithic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stiner |first=Mary C. |author2=Kuhn, Steven L. |author3= Güleç, Erksin |title=Early Upper Paleolithic shell beads at Üçağızlı Cave I (Turkey): Technology and the socioeconomic context of ornament life-histories |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=64 |issue=5 |pages=380–98 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.01.008 |issn=0047-2484 |year=2013 |pmid=23481346|bibcode=2013JHumE..64..380S }}</ref> Neolithic settlements include [[Çatalhöyük]], [[Çayönü]], [[Nevali Cori]], [[Aşıklı Höyük]], [[Boncuklu Höyük]], [[Hacilar]], [[Göbekli Tepe]], [[Norşuntepe]], [[Köşk Höyük]], and [[Yumuktepe]]. Çatalhöyük (7.000 BCE) is considered the most advanced of these.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitehouse |first1=Harvey |last2=Martin |first2=Luther H. |title=Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, and Cognition |date=2004 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=978-0-7591-0621-5 |page=38 |language=en}}</ref> Recent advances in archaeogenetics have confirmed that the [[History of agriculture|spread of agriculture]] from the Middle East to Europe was strongly correlated with the [[Pre-modern human migration|migration]] of [[Early European Farmers|early farmers from Anatolia]] about 9,000 years ago, and was not just a cultural exchange.<ref>{{cite news |last=Curry |first=Andrew |date=August 2019 |title=The first Europeans weren't who you might think |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319032852/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |archive-date=19 March 2021 |work=National Geographic}}</ref> Anatolian Neolithic farmers derived most of their ancestry from local [[Anatolian hunter-gatherers]], suggesting that agriculture was adopted in site by these hunter-gatherers and not spread by [[demic diffusion]] into the region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Krause |first1=Johannes |last2=Jeong |first2=Choongwon |last3=Haak |first3=Wolfgang |last4=Posth |first4=Cosimo |last5=Stockhammer |first5=Philipp W. |last6=Mustafaoğlu |first6=Gökhan |last7=Fairbairn |first7=Andrew |last8=Bianco |first8=Raffaela A. |last9=Julia Gresky |date=19 March 2019 |title=Late Pleistocene human genome suggests a local origin for the first farmers of central Anatolia |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1218 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10.1218F |doi=10.1038/s41467-019-09209-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=6425003 |pmid=30890703 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Anatolian derived Neolithic Farmers would subsequently spread across Europe, as far west as the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brace |first1=Selina |last2=Diekmann |first2=Yoan |last3=Booth |first3=Thomas J. |last4=van Dorp |first4=Lucy |last5=Faltyskova |first5=Zuzana |last6=Rohland |first6=Nadin |last7=Mallick |first7=Swapan |last8=Olalde |first8=Iñigo |last9=Ferry |first9=Matthew |last10=Michel |first10=Megan |last11=Oppenheimer |first11=Jonas |last12=Broomandkhoshbacht |first12=Nasreen |last13=Stewardson |first13=Kristin |last14=Martiniano |first14=Rui |last15=Walsh |first15=Susan |date=15 April 2019 |title=Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |language=en |volume=3 |issue=5 |pages=765–771 |doi=10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9 |issn=2397-334X |pmc=6520225 |pmid=30988490|bibcode=2019NatEE...3..765B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Olalde |first1=Iñigo |last2=Mallick |first2=Swapan |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Villalba-Mouco |first5=Vanessa |last6=Silva |first6=Marina |last7=Dulias |first7=Katharina |last8=Edwards |first8=Ceiridwen J. |last9=Gandini |first9=Francesca |last10=Pala |first10=Maria |last11=Soares |first11=Pedro |last12=Ferrando-Bernal |first12=Manuel |last13=Adamski |first13=Nicole |last14=Broomandkhoshbacht |first14=Nasreen |last15=Cheronet |first15=Olivia |date=15 March 2019 |title=The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years |journal=Science |language=en |volume=363 |issue=6432 |pages=1230–1234 |doi=10.1126/science.aav4040 |issn=0036-8075 |pmc=6436108 |pmid=30872528|bibcode=2019Sci...363.1230O }}</ref> as well as to the [[Maghreb]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Simões |first1=Luciana G. |last2=Günther |first2=Torsten |last3=Martínez-Sánchez |first3=Rafael M. |last4=Vera-Rodríguez |first4=Juan Carlos |last5=Iriarte |first5=Eneko |last6=Rodríguez-Varela |first6=Ricardo |last7=Bokbot |first7=Youssef |last8=Valdiosera |first8=Cristina |last9=Jakobsson |first9=Mattias |date=15 June 2023 |title=Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=618 |issue=7965 |pages=550–556 |bibcode=2023Natur.618..550S |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06166-6 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=10266975 |pmid=37286608}}</ref> Most modern Europeans derive a significant part of their ancestry from these Neolithic Anatolian farmers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Allentoft |first1=Morten E. |last2=Sikora |first2=Martin |last3=Refoyo-Martínez |first3=Alba |last4=Irving-Pease |first4=Evan K. |last5=Fischer |first5=Anders |last6=Barrie |first6=William |last7=Ingason |first7=Andrés |last8=Stenderup |first8=Jesper |last9=Sjögren |first9=Karl-Göran |last10=Pearson |first10=Alice |last11=Sousa da Mota |first11=Bárbara |last12=Schulz Paulsson |first12=Bettina |last13=Halgren |first13=Alma |last14=Macleod |first14=Ruairidh |last15=Jørkov |first15=Marie Louise Schjellerup |date=11 January 2024 |title=Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=625 |issue=7994 |pages=301–311 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06865-0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=10781627 |pmid=38200295|bibcode=2024Natur.625..301A }}</ref>

[[Neolithic]] Anatolia has been [[Anatolian hypothesis|proposed]] as the [[Urheimat|homeland]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]], although linguists tend to favour a [[Kurgan hypothesis|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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Indo-European Daughter Languages: Anatolian|url=https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesMiddEast/AnatoliaLanguage01.htm|access-date=26 January 2021|website=www.historyfiles.co.uk|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513212533/https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesMiddEast/AnatoliaLanguage01.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Anatolian languages|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anatolian-languages|access-date=26 January 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906190429/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anatolian-languages|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Ancient Anatolia===
{{Main|List of ancient kingdoms of Anatolia|Ancient regions of Anatolia}}

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|Hattians|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,{{sfn|Bryce|2005|p=12}} 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 [[Kültepe|Kanesh]], use an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines.<ref name="Freeman">{{cite book|last=Freeman|first=Charles|title= Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999|isbn=978-0198721949}}</ref>{{sfn|Akurgal|2001|p=}}{{sfn|Barjamovic|2011|p=}}

====Hittite Anatolia (18th–12th centuries BCE)====
{{main|Hittites}}
[[File:Sphinx_Gate,_Hattusa_01.jpg|thumb|The Sphinx Gate in [[Hattusa]]]]

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 [[Kültepe|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 [[Indo-European migrations|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, [[Hittites#New Kingdom|Hittite New Kingdom]] ({{circa|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 language|Palaic-speaking]] Indo-Europeans.<ref>Carruba, O. ''Das Palaische. Texte, Grammatik, Lexikon''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1970. StBoT 10</ref> Much of the history of the Hittite Empire concerned war with the rival empires of [[Egypt]], [[Assyria]] and the [[Mitanni]].<ref name="Roux">Georges Roux – Ancient Iraq</ref>

The [[Ancient Egypt]]ians 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.<ref name="Roux"/> 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.<ref name="Georges Roux 1966">Georges Roux, ''Ancient Iraq''. Penguin Books, 1966. {{ISBN?}}</ref>

====Post-Hittite Anatolia (12th–6th centuries BCE)====
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 230
| image1 = The_theatre_of_ancient_Halicarnassus,_built_in_the_4th_century_BC_during_the_reign_of_King_Mausolos_and_enlarged_in_the_2nd_century_AD,_the_original_capacity_of_the_theatre_was_10,000,_Bodrum,_Turkey_(16456817694).jpg|245
| caption1 = The [[Theatre at Halicarnassus]] (modern [[Bodrum]]) was built in the 4th century BC by [[Mausolus]], the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] [[satrap]] (governor) of [[Caria#Persian satrapy|Caria]]. The [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]] was one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]].<ref name=history>{{cite web | title = History of the Past: World History | url = http://worldhistory.byethost8.com/}}</ref><ref name=seven>{{cite web | title = The Seven Wonders | author = Paul Lunde | date = May–June 1980 | publisher = Saudi Aramco World | url = http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198003/the.seven.wonders.htm | access-date = 12 September 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091013125703/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198003/the.seven.wonders.htm | archive-date = 13 October 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
| image2 = Ephesus_Celsus_Library_Façade.jpg|245
| caption2 = The [[Library of Celsus]] in [[Ephesus]] was built by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] in 114–117.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Celsus_Library/|title=Celsus Library|publisher=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|author=Mark Cartwright|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> The [[Temple of Artemis]] in Ephesus, built by king [[Croesus]] of [[Lydia]] in the 6th century BC, was one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: The Un-Greek Temple and Wonder|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/128/|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=17 February 2017}}</ref>
| total_width = 
| alt1 = 
}}

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.<ref name="Georges Roux 1966"/>

:'''Luwians'''
Another Indo-European people, the [[Luwians]], rose to prominence in central and western Anatolia {{circa|2000}} BCE. [[Luwian language|Their language]] belonged to the same linguistic branch as [[Hittite language|Hittite]].<ref>Melchert 2003</ref> 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 [[Gediz River|Hermos]] and/or [[Bakırçay|Kaikos]] valley), and the kingdom of Mira-Kuwaliya with its core territory of the Maeander valley.<ref>Watkins 1994; id. 1995:144–51; Starke 1997; Melchert 2003; for the geography Hawkins 1998</ref> From the 9th century BCE, Luwian regions coalesced into a number of states such as [[Lydia]], [[Caria]], and [[Lycia]], all of which had [[Greece|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'''
[[File:Uchisar Castle.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Fairy chimneys in [[Cappadocia]]]]

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 (state)|Tabal]], [[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]], [[Persian people|Persians]], Scythians and their own [[Babylonia]]n 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 [[Medes|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'''
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Afrodisias_-_Sebastión_-_Sebasteion.jpg
| width1 = 280
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Tetrapilón_-_Afrodisias_-_02.jpg
| width2 = 180
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = The [[Sebasteion]] (left) and [[Tetrapylon]] (right) in [[Aphrodisias]] of [[Caria]], which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 2017.
}}

The north-western coast of Anatolia was inhabited by Greeks of the [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaean]]/[[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] culture from the 20th century BCE, related to the Greeks of southeastern Europe and the [[Aegean Islands|Aegean]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Carl Roebuck, ''The World of Ancient Times''</ref> 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-state]]s were established on the coasts of Anatolia. Greeks started Western philosophy on the western coast of Anatolia ([[Pre-Socratic philosophy]]).<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Classical Anatolia===
{{main|Classical Anatolia}}

In [[Classical antiquity]], Anatolia was described by the Ancient Greek historian [[Herodotus]] and later historians as divided into regions that were diverse in culture, language, and religious practices.<ref name=yavuz>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0195170726| last = Yavuz| first = Mehmet Fatih| title = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome| chapter = Anatolia| access-date = 5 December 2018| date = 2010| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001/acref-9780195170726-e-61| doi = 10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001| archive-date = 6 December 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181206102239/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001/acref-9780195170726-e-61| url-status = live}}</ref> The northern regions included [[Bithynia]], [[Paphlagonia]], and [[Pontus (region)|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]].<ref name=yavuz /> Languages spoken included the late surviving [[Anatolic languages]], [[Isaurian language|Isaurian]],<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5geoDQAAQBAJ&q=isaurian%20personal%20names&pg=PT64|title=Violence in Late Antiquity: Perceptions and Practices|last=Honey|first=Linda|isbn=978-1351875745|page=50|chapter=Justifiably Outraged or Simply Outrageous? The Isaurian Incident of Ammianus Marcellinus|date=5 December 2016|publisher=Routledge |access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=19 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519052917/https://books.google.com/books?id=5geoDQAAQBAJ&q=isaurian%20personal%20names&pg=PT64|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Pisidian language|Pisidian]], Greek in western and coastal regions, [[Phrygian language|Phrygian]] spoken until the 7th century CE,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Swain|first1=Simon|last2=Adams|first2=J. Maxwell|last3=Janse|first3=Mark|title=Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Word|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford [Oxfordshire]|year=2002 |pages=246–66|isbn=0199245061}}</ref> local variants of [[Thracian]] in the northwest, the [[Galatian language|Galatian variant of Gaulish]] in [[Galatia]] until the 6th century CE,<ref>Freeman, Philip, ''The Galatian Language'', Edwin Mellen, 2001, pp. 11–12.</ref><ref>Clackson, James. "Language maintenance and language shift in the Mediterranean world during the Roman Empire." Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds (2012): 36–57. p. 46: The second testimonium for the late survival of Galatian appears in the Life of Saint Euthymius, who died in ad 487.</ref><ref>Norton, Tom. [https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/402/1/TOM%20NORTON.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102201528/http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/402/1/TOM%20NORTON.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/402/1/TOM%20NORTON.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|date=2 November 2018}} | A question of identity: who were the Galatians?. University of Wales. p. 62: The final reference to Galatian comes two hundred years later in the sixth century CE when Cyril of Scythopolis attests that Galatian was still being spoken eight hundred years after the Galatians arrived in Asia Minor. Cyril tells of the temporary possession of a monk from Galatia by Satan and rendered speechless, but when he recovered he spoke only in his native Galatian when questioned: 'If he were pressed, he spoke only in Galatian'.180 After this, the rest is silence, and further archaeological or literary discoveries are awaited to see if Galatian survived any later. In this regard, the example of Crimean Gothic is instructive. It was presumed to have died out in the fifth century CE, but the discovery of a small corpus of the language dating from the sixteenth century altered this perception.</ref> [[Ancient Cappadocian language|Cappadocian]] in the homonymous region,<ref>J. Eric Cooper, Michael J. Decker, ''Life and Society in Byzantine Cappadocia'' {{ISBN|0230361064}}, p. 14</ref> [[Armenian language|Armenian]] in the east, and [[Kartvelian languages]] in the northeast.

Anatolia is known as the birthplace of minted [[coin]]age (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 [[Hellenistic period|Greek]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] eras.<ref>{{Cite book|isbn=978-0415089920|last=Howgego|first=C. J.|title=Ancient History from Coins|author-link=Christopher Howgego| year=1995|publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>[http://www.asiaminorcoins.com/ Asia Minor Coins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317151148/https://www.asiaminorcoins.com/ |date=17 March 2020 }} – an index of Greek and Roman coins from Asia Minor (ancient Anatolia)</ref>

During the 6th century BCE, all of Anatolia was conquered by the [[Persia]]n [[Achaemenid Empire]], the Persians having usurped the [[Medes]] as the [[List of monarchs of Persia|dominant dynasty of Persia]]. In 499 BCE, the [[Ionia]]n 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dandamaev |first1=M. A. |author-link1=Muhammad Dandamayev |title=A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire |date=1989 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004091726 |page=294}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title = ARTAXERXES II | last = Schmitt | first = R. | author-link = Rüdiger Schmitt | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artaxerxes-ii-achaemenid-king | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 6 | pages = 656–58 | year = 1986 | access-date = 21 April 2019 | archive-date = 9 April 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190409011010/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artaxerxes-ii-achaemenid-king | url-status = live }}</ref>

In 334 BCE, the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian]] Greek king [[Alexander the Great]] conquered the Anatolian peninsula from the Achaemenid Persian Empire.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roisman|first1=Joseph|last2=Worthington|first2=Ian|title=A Companion to Ancient Macedonia|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=2010|isbn=978-1405179362|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lkYFVJ3U-BIC|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=16 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416185650/https://books.google.com/books?id=lkYFVJ3U-BIC|url-status=live}}</ref> Alexander's conquest opened up the interior of Asia Minor to Greek settlement and influence.
[[File:Nemrut Dağı 12.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Sanctuary of the Kings of [[Commagene]] on [[Mount Nemrut]] (1st century BCE)]] Following the death of Alexander the Great and the subsequent breakup of the [[Macedonian Empire]], Anatolia was ruled by a series of Hellenistic kingdoms, such as the [[Attalid dynasty|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 BCE. In 133 BCE the last Attalid king bequeathed his kingdom to the [[Roman Republic]]; western and central Anatolia came under [[Romanization of Anatolia|Roman control]], but [[Hellenistic culture]] remained predominant.

[[Mithridates VI Eupator]], ruler of the [[Kingdom of Pontus]] in northern Anatolia, waged war against the [[Roman Republic]] in the year 88 BCE in order to halt the advance of Roman [[hegemony]] in the [[Aegean Sea]] region. Mithridates VI sought to dominate Asia Minor and the [[Black Sea]] region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars (the [[Mithridatic Wars]]) to break Roman dominion over Asia and the [[Hellenic world]].<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mithradates-VI-Eupator Mithradates VI Eupator]", ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''</ref> He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hewsen|first=Robert H.|title=Armenian Pontus: The Trebizond-Black Sea Communities|year=2009|publisher=Mazda Publishers, Inc.|location=Costa Mesa, CA|isbn=978-1-56859-155-1|pages=41, 37–66|editor=Richard G. Hovannisian|chapter=Armenians on the Black Sea: The Province of Trebizond}}</ref> Further annexations by Rome, in particular of the Kingdom of Pontus by [[Pompey]], brought all of Anatolia under [[Romanization of Anatolia|Roman control]], except for the southeastern frontier with the [[Parthian Empire]], which remained unstable for centuries, causing a series of military conflicts that culminated in the [[Roman–Parthian Wars]] (54 BCE – 217 CE).

===Early Christian period===
{{Main|Christianity as the Roman state religion|Spread of Christianity}}
{{Further|Christianity in late antiquity|Crisis of the Third Century}}

[[File:Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png|thumb|upright=1.1|{{legend|#b23938|[[Roman Empire]] in 117 CE at its greatest extent, at the time of [[Trajan]]'s death.}} {{legend|#d28989|[[vassal state]]s<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bennett, Julian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qk_tofvS8EsC |title=Trajan: Optimus Princeps : a Life and Times |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-415-16524-2}}. Fig. 1. Regions east of the [[Euphrates]] river were held only in the years 116–117.</ref>}}]]
[[File:Seven churches of asia.svg|thumb|331x331px|The [[Seven churches of Asia]]]]
After the [[first division of the Roman Empire]], Anatolia became part of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]], otherwise known as the Byzantine Empire or [[Byzantium]].<ref name="Niewöhner 2017">{{cite book |author-last=Niewöhner |author-first=Philipp |year=2017 |chapter=Chapter 3: Urbanism – The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgUmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |editor-last=Niewöhner |editor-first=Philipp |title=The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia: From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks |location=[[Oxford]] and New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=39–59 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190610463.003.0004 |isbn=9780190610487}}</ref> In the 1st century CE, Anatolia became [[History of early Christianity|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.<ref name="Niewöhner 2017"/>

Byzantine Anatolia was one of the wealthiest and most densely populated places in the [[Later 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 [[Hagiography|Christian hagiographies]] of the 6th-century [[Nicholas of Sion]] and 7th-century [[Theodore of Sykeon]]. Large and prosperous urban centers of Byzantine Anatolia included [[Assos]], [[Ephesus]], [[Miletus]], [[Nicaea]], [[Pergamum]], [[Priene]], [[Sardis]], and [[Aphrodisias]].<ref name="Niewöhner 2017"/>

From the mid-5th century onwards, urbanism was affected negatively and began to decline, while the rural areas reached unprecedented levels of prosperity in the region.<ref name="Niewöhner 2017"/> Historians and scholars continue to debate the cause of the urban decline in Byzantine Anatolia between the 6th and 7th centuries,<ref name="Niewöhner 2017"/> variously attributing it to the [[Plague of Justinian]] (541), the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Byzantine–Sasanian War]] (602–628), and the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|Arab invasion of the Levant]] (634–638).<ref name=thonemann>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0198662778| last = Thonemann| first = Peter| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity| volume = 1| chapter = Anatolia| access-date = 6 December 2018| year = 2018| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-241| doi = 10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001| archive-date = 6 December 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181206102258/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-241| url-status = live}}</ref>

===Medieval period===
{{further|Byzantine Anatolia}}
{{see also|List of states in late medieval Anatolia}}
[[File:Asia Minor ca 842 AD.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|[[Byzantine Anatolia]] and the [[Arab–Byzantine wars|Byzantine-Arab frontier zone]] in the mid-9th 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Byzantine Empire 1025–1204 |last=Angold |first=Michael |year=1997 |isbn=978-0582294684 |page=117|publisher=Longman }}</ref> 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.<ref name=Balyuzi/>
[[File:11 13th century Asia Minor Turkish Invasions.png|thumb|Settlements and regions affected during the first wave of [[Byzantine–Seljuk wars|Turkish invasions]] in Asia Minor (11th–13th century)]]
In 1255, the [[Mongols]] swept through eastern and central Anatolia, and would remain until 1335. The [[Ilkhanate]] garrison was stationed near [[Ankara]].<ref name=Balyuzi>H. M. Balyuzi ''Muḥammad and the course of Islám'', p. 342</ref><ref>John Freely ''Storm on Horseback: The Seljuk Warriors of Turkey'', p. 83</ref> After the decline of the Ilkhanate from 1335 to 1353, the [[Mongol Empire]]'s legacy in the region was the [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]] [[Eretna Dynasty]] that was overthrown by [[Kadi Burhan al-Din]] in 1381.<ref>Clifford Edmund Bosworth-The new Islamic dynasties: a chronological and genealogical manual, p. 234</ref>

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, [[Alaşehir|Philadelphia]], [[Fall of Philadelphia|fell in 1390]]. The [[Turkmen people|Turkmen]] Beyliks were under the control of the Mongols, at least nominally, through declining Seljuk sultans.<ref>Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Gary Leiser-The origins of the Ottoman Empire, p. 33</ref><ref>Peter Partner ''God of battles: holy wars of Christianity and Islam'', p. 122</ref> The Beyliks did not mint coins in the names of their own leaders while they remained under the suzerainty of the [[Mongol]] [[Ilkhanids]].<ref>''Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire'', p. 13</ref> 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".<ref>Artuk – ''Osmanli Beyliginin Kurucusu'', 27f</ref> Since the minting of coins was a prerogative accorded in Islamic practice only to a [[Sovereignty|sovereign]], it can be considered that the Osmanli, or Ottoman Turks, had become formally independent from the Mongol Khans.<ref>Pamuk – ''A Monetary History'', pp. 30–31</ref>

===Ottoman Empire===
{{further|Ottoman Empire}}

[[File:Growth of the Ottoman Empire.jpg|thumb|[[Territorial evolution of the Ottoman Empire]] between 1359 and 1683]]
Among the [[Turkish people|Turkish]] leaders, the [[Ottoman dynasty|Ottomans]] emerged as great power under [[Osman I]] and his son [[Orhan]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Osman-I|title=Osman I {{!}} Ottoman sultan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-date=24 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424073731/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Osman-I|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Orhan|title=Orhan {{!}} Ottoman sultan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-date=10 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310140006/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Orhan|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Anatolian beyliks]] were successively absorbed into the rising [[Ottoman Empire]] during the 15th century.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/new-cambridge-history-of-islam/rise-of-the-ottomans/015D10BC98EA8A2D69B29D54AC7241CC|title=The rise of the Ottomans (Chapter 11) – The New Cambridge History of Islam|pages=313–31|last=Fleet|first=Kate|publisher=Cambridge Core|language=en|access-date=23 April 2018|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521839570.013|chapter=The rise of the Ottomans|year=2010|isbn=978-1139056151|archive-date=24 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424071602/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/new-cambridge-history-of-islam/rise-of-the-ottomans/015D10BC98EA8A2D69B29D54AC7241CC|url-status=live}}</ref> It is not well understood how the Osmanlı, or [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]], came to dominate their neighbours, as the history of medieval Anatolia is still little known.<ref>{{cite book |last=Finkel |first=Caroline |title=Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cTHyUQoTyUC&pg=PA5 |year=2007 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0465008506 |page=5 |access-date=6 June 2013 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102002603/http://books.google.com/books?id=9cTHyUQoTyUC&pg=PA5 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Ottomans completed the conquest of the peninsula in 1517 with the taking of [[Halicarnassus]] (modern [[Bodrum]]) from the [[Knights of Saint John]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/halicarnassus|title=Halicarnassus |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |orig-date=15 December 2003 |date=1 March 2012 |first1=Bruno |last1=Genito |access-date=23 April 2018|archive-date=24 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424071811/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/halicarnassus|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Modern times===
{{further|History of Turkey}}
[[File:The Historical Atlas, 1911 – Distribution of Races in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor.jpg|thumb|Ethnic map of Asia Minor in 1905–06]]
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]], [[Lezgian people|Lezgis]], [[Chechens]] and several [[Turkic peoples|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 ([[Bosniaks]], [[Albanians]], [[Turkish people|Turks]], [[Pomaks|Muslim Bulgarians]] and [[Greek Muslims]] such as the [[Vallahades]] from [[Macedonia (Greece)|Greek Macedonia]]), were resettled in various parts of Anatolia, mostly in formerly Christian villages throughout Anatolia.
[[File:St. Polycarp Kilisesi (2).jpg|left|thumb|181x181px|St. Polycarp Church, in modern-day [[İzmir|Izmir]].]]
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.
[[File:Ankara and mosque wza.jpg|thumb|Mosque in [[Ankara]]]]
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.<ref name="Swietochowski Borderland">{{cite book |last=Swietochowski |first=Tadeusz |author-link=Tadeusz Swietochowski |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FfRYRwAACAAJ&q=Russia+and+Iran+in+the+great+game:+travelogues+and+orientalism |title=Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-231-07068-3 |pages=69, 133}}</ref>

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 (region)|Pontus]]), and the [[Assyrian genocide]] almost entirely removed the ancient indigenous communities of [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Greeks|Greek]], and [[Assyrian people|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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-07 |title=The uncertain future of Greeks in Turkey |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/09/07/the-uncertain-future-of-greeks-in-turkey#selection-1030.0-1030.1 |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=archive.is |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230907151019/https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/09/07/the-uncertain-future-of-greeks-in-turkey#selection-1030.0-1030.1 |archive-date=2023-09-07}}</ref> According to Morris and Ze'evi, 4 million Christians were ethnically cleansed from Asia minor by the Turks from 1894 to 1924.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=THSPDwAAQBAJ&q=Benny+Morris+the+thirty+year+genocide |title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924 |last2=Ze'evi |first2=Dror |date=2019-04-24 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-91645-6 |pages=3 |language=en}}</ref>

==Geology==
[[File:Lake_Tuz,_Turkey_(Unsplash_O0uCm1WLnA0).jpg|thumb|Salty shores of [[Lake Tuz]]]]

Anatolia's terrain is structurally complex. A central [[massif]] composed of uplifted blocks and downfolded [[Trough (geology)|troughs]], covered by recent [[Deposit (geology)|deposits]] and giving the appearance of a plateau with rough terrain, is wedged between two folded mountain ranges that converge in the east. True lowland is confined to a few narrow coastal strips along the Aegean, Mediterranean, and the Black Sea coasts. Flat or gently sloping land is rare and largely confined to the deltas of the [[Kızıl River]], the coastal plains of [[Çukurova]] and the valley floors of the [[Gediz River]] and the [[Büyük Menderes River]] as well as some interior high plains in Anatolia, mainly around [[Lake Tuz]] (Salt Lake) and the [[Konya]] Basin (''Konya Ovasi'').

There are two mountain ranges in southern Anatolia: the [[Taurus mountains|Taurus]] and the [[Zagros]] mountains.<ref name=wiley>{{Cite book| publisher = John Wiley & Sons| isbn = 978-1118945018| last1 = Cemen| first1 = Ibrahim| last2 = Yilmaz| first2 = Yucel| title = Active Global Seismology: Neotectonics and Earthquake Potential of the Eastern Mediterranean Region| year=2017}}</ref>

===Climate===
{{Main|Climate of Turkey}}
<gallery caption="Temperatures of Anatolia" widths="180px">
File:Klima_ankara.png|[[Ankara]] (central Anatolia)
File:Klima_antalya.png|[[Antalya]] (southern Anatolia)
File:Klima_van.png|[[Van, Turkey|Van]] (eastern Anatolia)
</gallery>

Anatolia has a varied range of climates. The central plateau is characterized by a continental climate, with hot summers and cold snowy winters. The south and west coasts enjoy a typical Mediterranean climate, with mild rainy winters, and warm dry summers.<ref name=Prothero19>{{cite book|last=Prothero|first=W.G.|title=Anatolia|year=1920|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|location=London|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11766/view/1/19/|access-date=6 September 2013|archive-date=2 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102025925/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11766/view/1/19/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Black Sea and Marmara coasts have a temperate oceanic climate, with warm, foggy summers and much rainfall throughout the year.

===Ecoregions===
[[File:Blue_Lagoon_-_2014.10_-_panoramio.jpg|thumb|[[Mediterranean climate]] is prevalent in the [[Turkish Riviera]]]]
[[File:Central Anatolia (52397494465).jpg|thumb|Anatolia's dry central plateau]]
There is a diverse number of plant and animal communities.

The mountains and coastal plain of northern Anatolia experience a humid and mild climate. There are [[temperate broadleaf and mixed forest|temperate broadleaf, mixed]] and [[temperate coniferous forest|coniferous]] forests. The central and eastern plateau, with its drier [[continental climate]], has deciduous forests and forest steppes. Western and southern Anatolia, which have a [[Mediterranean climate]], contain [[Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub]] ecoregions.
* [[Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests]]: These temperate broadleaf and mixed forests extend across northern Anatolia, lying between the mountains of northern Anatolia and the Black Sea. They include the enclaves of [[temperate rainforest]] lying along the southeastern coast of the Black Sea in eastern Turkey and Georgia.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa0422|name=Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref>
* [[Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests]]: These forests occupy the mountains of northern Anatolia, running east and west between the coastal Euxine-Colchic forests and the drier, continental climate forests of central and eastern Anatolia.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa0515|name=Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref>
* [[Central Anatolian deciduous forests]]: These forests of deciduous oaks and evergreen pines cover the plateau of central Anatolia.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa0410|name=Central Anatolian deciduous forests|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref>
* [[Central Anatolian steppe]]: These dry grasslands cover the drier valleys and surround the saline lakes of central Anatolia, and include [[halophytic]] (salt tolerant) plant communities.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Central Anatolian steppe|access-date=25 May 2008|id=pa0803}}</ref>
[[File:Pontic Panorama.jpg|thumb|300px|A panorama of the [[Pontic Mountains]] in the [[Black Sea Region]] of northern Anatolia, Turkey]]
* [[Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests]]: This ecoregion occupies the plateau of eastern Anatolia. The drier and more continental climate is beneficial for steppe-forests dominated by deciduous oaks, with areas of shrubland, montane forest, and valley forest.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa0420|name=Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref>
* [[Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests]]: These forests occupy the western, Mediterranean-climate portion of the Anatolian plateau. Pine forests and mixed pine and oak woodlands and shrublands are predominant.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests|access-date=25 May 2008|id=pa1202}}</ref>
* [[Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests]]: These Mediterranean-climate forests occupy the coastal lowlands and valleys of western Anatolia bordering the Aegean Sea. The ecoregion has forests of [[Turkish pine]] ''(Pinus brutia)'', oak forests and woodlands, and [[maquis shrubland]] of Turkish pine and evergreen [[sclerophyll]]ous trees and shrubs, including [[Olive]] ''(Olea europaea)'', [[Arbutus unedo|Strawberry Tree]] ''(Arbutus unedo)'', ''[[Arbutus andrachne]]'', Kermes Oak ''([[Quercus coccifera]])'', and [[Bay Laurel]] ''(Laurus nobilis)''.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests|access-date=25 May 2008|id=pa1201}}</ref>
* [[Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests]]: These mountain forests occupy the Mediterranean-climate [[Taurus Mountains]] of southern Anatolia. Conifer forests are predominant, chiefly Anatolian black pine ''([[Pinus nigra]])'', Cedar of Lebanon ''([[Cedrus libani]])'', Taurus fir ''([[Abies cilicica]])'', and [[juniper]] ''([[Juniperus foetidissima]]'' and ''[[Juniperus excelsa|J. excelsa]])''. Broadleaf trees include oaks, [[hornbeam]], and [[maple]]s.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests|access-date=25 May 2008|id=pa1220}}</ref>
* [[Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests]]: This ecoregion occupies the coastal strip of southern Anatolia between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Plant communities include broadleaf sclerophyllous maquis shrublands, forests of Aleppo Pine ''(''Pinus halepensis'')'' and Turkish Pine ''(Pinus brutia)'', and dry oak ''(Quercus'' spp.) woodlands and steppes.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=pa1207|name=Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Turkey}}
The largest cities in Anatolia (aside from the Asian side of [[Istanbul]]) are [[Ankara]], [[İzmir]], [[Bursa]], [[Antalya]], [[Konya]], [[Adana]], [[İzmit]], [[Mersin]], [[Manisa]], [[Kayseri]], [[Samsun]], [[Balıkesir]], [[Kahramanmaraş]], [[Aydın]], [[Adapazarı]], [[Denizli]], [[Muğla]], [[Eskişehir]], [[Trabzon]], [[Ordu]], [[Afyonkarahisar]], [[Sivas]], [[Tokat]], [[Zonguldak]], [[Kütahya]], [[Çanakkale]], [[Osmaniye]] and [[Çorum]]. All have populations of more than 500,000.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Turkey}}
{{div col|colwidth=10em}}
* [[Aeolis]]
* [[Anatolian hypothesis]]
* [[Anatolianism]]
* [[Anatolian leopard]]
* [[Anatolian Plate]]
* [[Anatolian Shepherd]]
* [[Ancient kingdoms of Anatolia]]
* [[Antigonid dynasty]]
* [[Doris (Asia Minor)]]
* [[Empire of Nicaea]]
* [[Empire of Trebizond]]
* [[Gordium]]
* [[Lycaonia]]
* [[Midas]]
* [[Miletus]]
* [[Myra]]
* [[Pentarchy]]
* [[Pontic Greeks]]
* [[Rumi]]
* [[Saint Anatolia]]
* [[John the Apostle|Saint John]]
* [[Saint Nicholas]]
* [[Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul]]
* [[Seleucid Empire]]
* [[Seven churches of Asia]]
* [[Seven Sleepers]]
* [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]]
* [[Troad]]
* [[Turkic migration]]
{{div col end}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Akurgal |first=Ekrem |author-link=Ekrem Akurgal |title=The Hattian and Hittite Civilizations |year=2001 |location=Ankara |publisher=Ministry of Culture |isbn=978-9751727565 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ1tAAAAMAAJ |access-date=7 January 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428164117/https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ1tAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Barjamovic |first=Gojko |author-link=Gojko Barjamovic |title=A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period |year=2011 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-8763536455 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hB9feN_sbx4C |access-date=7 January 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428164116/https://books.google.com/books?id=hB9feN_sbx4C |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Bryce |first=Trevor R. |author-link=Trevor R. Bryce |title=The Kingdom of the Hittites |year=2005 |orig-year=1998 |edition=2nd revised |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199279081 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMHmCwAAQBAJ |access-date=7 January 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505123630/https://books.google.com/books?id=HMHmCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Bryce |first=Trevor R. |author-link=Trevor R. Bryce |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire |year=2009 |location=London & New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134159079 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwwNS0diXP4C }}
* {{cite book | editor-last1=Cohen | editor-first1=Saul B. | title=The Columbia Gazetteer of the World: Volume 1 A to G | publisher=Columbia University Press |edition=2nd | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-231-14554-1 | oclc=212893637}}
* {{cite book | last=Comrie | first=Bernard | editor-first1=Bernard | editor-last1=Comrie | title=The World's Major Languages | publisher=Routledge | date=2018 |edition=3rd | isbn=978-0-19-506511-4 |doi=10.4324/9781315644936}}
* {{cite book | last=Howard | first=Douglas A. | title=The History of Turkey | publisher=Greenwood | publication-place=Santa Barbara, California | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-4408-3466-0 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book | last=McColl | first=R. W. | title=Encyclopedia of World Geography | publisher=Facts On File | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-8160-7229-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Steadman |first1=Sharon R. |last2=McMahon |first2=Gregory |year=2011 |title = The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia:(10,000–323 BCE) |publisher=Oxford University Press Inc. |isbn=978-0195376142 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.001.0001 |hdl=11693/51311 |editor1-last=McMahon |editor1-first=Gregory |editor2-last=Steadman |editor2-first=Sharon }}
* {{cite book | editor-last1=Tockner | editor-first1=Klement | editor-last2=Uehlinger | editor-first2=Urs | editor-last3=Robinson | editor-first3=Christopher T. | title=Rivers of Europe | publisher=Academic Press | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-08-091908-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GDmX5XKkQCcC}}
* {{cite report |ref={{harvid|KONDA|2006}} |url=http://www.konda.com.tr/tr/raporlar/2006_09_KONDA_Toplumsal_Yapi.pdf |title=Toplumsal Yapı Araştırması 2006 |date=2006 |publisher=[[KONDA Research and Consultancy]] |access-date=21 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215004933/http://www.konda.com.tr/tr/raporlar/2006_09_KONDA_Toplumsal_Yapi.pdf |archive-date=15 February 2017}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box |by=no|onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Anatolia |viaf= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
*Akat, Yücel, Neşe Özgünel, and Aynur Durukan. 1991. ''Anatolia: A World Heritage''. Ankara: Kültür Bakanliǧi.
*Brewster, Harry. 1993. ''Classical Anatolia: The Glory of Hellenism''. London: I. B. Tauris.
*Donbaz, Veysel, and Şemsi Güner. 1995. ''The Royal Roads of Anatolia''. Istanbul: Dünya.
*Dusinberre, Elspeth R. M. 2013. ''Empire, Authority, and Autonomy In Achaemenid Anatolia''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Gates, Charles, Jacques Morin, and Thomas Zimmermann. 2009. ''Sacred Landscapes In Anatolia and Neighboring Regions''. Oxford: Archaeopress.
*Mikasa, Takahito, ed. 1999. ''Essays On Ancient Anatolia''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
*Takaoğlu, Turan. 2004. ''Ethnoarchaeological Investigations In Rural Anatolia''. İstanbul: Ege Yayınları.
*Taracha, Piotr. 2009. ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
*Taymaz, Tuncay, Y. Yilmaz, and Yildirim Dilek. 2007. ''The Geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia''. London: Geological Society.

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Navboxes
|list = 
{{Turkey topics}}
{{Regions of the world}}
{{Peninsulas of Turkey}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Anatolia| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek geography]]
[[Category:Geography of the Middle East]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Turkey]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Asia]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Turkey]]
[[Category:Physiographic provinces]]
[[Category:Regions of Asia]]
[[Category:Regions of Turkey]]
[[Category:West Asia]]